Monsters In The Dark
by TheRodent
Summary: When you spend your time hunting down the paranormal it is easy to forget who the real predators are. However when Scully is gang raped she has to deal with the aftermath and Mulder has to come to terms with who the real monsters in the dark are.
1. Strangers In The Dark

**I actually uploaded this first chapter a while ago however I removed it as I wasn't sure that I would have time to keep updating it. So this is technically a re-upload.**

 **However I came across this again recently when I was clearing out my laptop and a dear "friend" of mine managed to convince me to put this chapter back up again and make an effort to finish the story, so here it is! Hopefully I will be able to find time to update this as I do really want to finish this. I have made a few small changes in this chapter since the last time it was up but it's nothing major.**

 **Now on to the warnings - it's rated M and it's rated M for a reason. This story does deal with rape and the aftermath of a rape so if you don't like that then please click the back button now. I am not forcing anyone to read this if they don't want to so please no flames in the reviews. However constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated.**

 **This story takes place during season six.**

* * *

The weather reports definitely weren't lying when they said to expect a heatwave.

The air conditioning was on at full blast and she had managed to dig out a loose fitting tank top and a denim skirt out of her closet, yet Dana Scully was still boiling.

She had resorted to placing an ice pack on her forehead and had made sure to always have a large ice cold soda beside her at all times yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to manage to cool down.

Now her ice pack had melted and all she could feel was droplets of water stream down her face. She inwardly groaned, knowing she was going to have to get a fresh one and perhaps get herself a glass of water as she could feel her throat drying up.

With a groan, Scully pushed herself up off her bed where she had taken refuge for what seemed like all day, not even bothering to remove the ice pack from her forehead so as soon as she sat up it immediately fell to the floor.

She'd deal with that later. Right now she just needed a drink.

After a rummage through her fridge, she finally settled on a big glass of mineral water which she filled with ice cubes.

She fixed her eyes out her kitchen window as she heartily drank.

It was already nearly half past six in the evening and there were no signs that the heat was about to cool off anytime soon.

As she drank, she eyed up the empty wine bottle from last night which she had left in the sink. She really should have taken it out this morning but she had just been too hot to move anywhere that wasn't her bed, her kitchen or her shower.

Well that was her excuse anyway.

Scully smiled when she remembered the events of the previous night. Mulder had dropped by unexpectedly with a bottle of wine.

She had asked him what the occasion was but the only answer he had to offer was that they had been working so hard lately that he felt they deserved a break. Scully certainly wasn't going to argue with that.

Scully would never admit it but she secretly enjoyed it when Mulder made the effort to see her outside of work. She may sigh or roll her eyes or give him a sarcastic quip but deep down she was always pleased.

When Mulder had left the previous night he had given her a peck on the cheek and she had desperately wanted to ask him to stay the night. However, she didn't want to seem too needy.

Scully finished her water and now she was regretting recalling events from the previous night.

She was beginning to long for Mulder which was bad enough but now she was suddenly craving a glass of wine and she didn't have any in her apartment.

She glanced at her clock. It was just after twenty to seven. She had plenty of time to head down to the store, get a bottle of wine and get back home and watch a movie with a nice bottle of red.

Before she had time to think about what she was doing, she had grabbed her car keys and was heading out the door.

Perhaps she would even get some more ice cream whilst she was at the store and invite Mulder over…

* * *

Scully was annoyed.

The store was closed. It should have been open but because of circumstances out of their control they had been forced to close early.

She could just head back home…but she wanted that wine and ice cream damn it!

She would have to try a different store.

With a sigh, she turned around with the intention of heading back to her car and finding a different store however she immediately knocked into a man who was strolling past.

"Sorry," she spluttered. She suddenly felt very awkward.

"Forget about it," he waved her apology off whilst taking a drag from the cigarette he was smoking.

Scully curiously studied the man.

He was quite good looking. He was tall, about the same height as Mulder, with dark brown hair and intelligent brown eyes.

The only off putting thing about him was that cigarette he had in his hand.

"They had to close early," the man took another drag from his cigarette whilst eyeing Scully up, "something about a sick kid. I'm not really sure."

"I'll just find somewhere else. I'm really desperate for a big glass of wine and I don't think I can wait".

Scully heard the words leaving her mouth but she had no idea why she was telling him this. It wasn't in her nature to make jokes and she just wanted to get that wine and get back home.

The man threw his cigarette to the floor and stamped on it.

"Miller's place" the man said.

"Sorry?"

"I don't think you're going to find a store that's open any time soon. Unless you want to drive for a bit and I wouldn't recommend that in this heat. I'm having a drink at Miller's. I'll buy you a drink"

Scully hesitated. She really wanted to just get that wine and go home but he had a point.

She was already hot and bothered and she certainly didn't feel like driving any further if she could avoid it.

"C'mon, it's hot. They do wine at Miller's. I'll get you one." The man said, flashing her a smile.

Scully bit her lip. This guy seemed charming enough and weren't people always telling her that she needed to lighten up and live in the moment?

This guy was also offering to buy her a drink and Miller's was just round the corner.

It was out of character for her but she couldn't help trusting and liking this guy so it only took her a moment to make her decision.

"Fine," she said, flashing him a rare smile which he promptly returned.

"Leo," he said, by way of introduction as Scully began walking along with him in sync.

"Dana"

"So Dana, how come I've never seen you around here before? Are you from out of town?"

"No, I'm from around here."

"Really? How come I've never seen you before then? I think I would have noticed a pretty lady like you if I'd seen you around before" Leo cast a glance sideways at her, smiling.

Scully decided he must have had a couple of drinks already.

Even so, she could feel herself blushing slightly and she had to hold back the smile that she could feel forming on her lips.

"I don't really get out much," she shrugged, "I always seem to be busy with work these days."

"What do you do?" Leo prompted as they began to cross over the road and head towards the bar on the other side.

Scully could already tell that the place was busy.

She could hear laughter and music however she couldn't place what song it was. She just hoped that their air conditioning was working because the heat was showing no sign of letting up any time soon.

"Oh, it's not that interesting really", Scully found herself shrugging again, "I work in an office and I have a lot of paperwork to get through."

Technically that wasn't a lie.

Scully felt a rush of cool air hit her as soon as they made their way into the bar. The music was loud but not too loud. She could still hear herself think and she certainly wasn't going to have to shout in order to make herself heard.

"Leo!"

A man with dirty blond hair and a drink in his hand approached, slapping him on the back.

"You took your time," the man took a sip of his drink, casting his eyes on Scully, "and you brought a friend with you. Are you going to introduce us all to her or are you just going to leave us hanging?"

Another two men looked up from the bar curiously.

One of them had a shaven head and the other had a face which reminded Scully of a rat. Both of them were smoking.

"Yeah, Leo. You said you were going for a walk but you appear to have picked yourself up a new girlfriend instead. What number is this one? Third or fourth this week? Or maybe the fifth?" the man with the rat face sniggered, nudging the man with no hair who smirked.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Ignore them," he whispered into Scully's ear.

He could obviously tell they were making her uncomfortable.

"Hunter," Leo began, indicating the man with the dirty blond hair, "this is Dana. Dana, this is Hunter."

Hunter nodded at her.

"Now if you excuse me, Dana and myself would like to get a drink," Leo said, as he and Scully began to make their way over to the bar.

Within less than a minute of making herself comfortable at the bar, Scully found a large glass of wine being placed down in front of her.

Leo took a sip of his own drink, watching Scully intently.

"What's wrong, Dana? Don't you want your drink?" Leo eyed her up, noticing that she hadn't drunk any yet.

Scully smiled and took a sip.

She could feel Leo's eyes on her and she just knew he was smiling too.

Scully glanced down at the two men who had been trying to talk to Leo when they entered the bar. They were still smoking and talking amongst themselves whilst casually glancing at them occasionally.

"Are they friends of yours?" Scully asked, taking another sip of her drink.

"I guess you could say that."

Scully continued to drink. She had almost forgotten what she had come out for in the first place but now that she was out of the heat she remembered how desperate she had been for a glass of wine.

"That one there," he motioned to the one with the shaved head, "is Trent and the other one, well, we call him Rat."

Scully turned back to him, her eyebrow raised.

"Are you being serious?" she smiled, trying not to laugh.

"Quite serious. I don't think anybody really knows what his real name is. I don't think he even knows himself. He just likes being called Rat."

Scully giggled, taking another sip of her wine.

She cautiously glanced into her glass.

She hadn't drunk much of it but she already felt a bit tipsy and giggly. She would have to pace herself.

"You didn't really tell me what you do," Leo mused, "you just said you work in an office."

Scully swallowed some more of her drink.

She suddenly felt a bit lightheaded.

"It's really boring actually," Scully wasn't sure why she was being vague, "my part – um colleague, and myself just spend a lot of time organizing things, typing up reports and sending them off."

Leo was now lighting up another cigarette and he was nodding, as if he understood completely.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

Scully smiled, her eyebrows raised.

"No. I'm single. I live alone," she said, instinctively reaching for her glass and drinking some more.

Leo took another drag from his cigarette.

"Maybe after tonight I can take you back home to my place."

"I don't think so." Scully took no time answering that one.

* * *

Scully didn't know what was wrong with her.

She hadn't even finished her second glass of wine and she was already long gone.

She was drunk.

She didn't normally get drunk this fast but perhaps it was because of the heat or she hadn't eaten enough.

She just knew she was drunk.

She had already danced half the night away which was a big clue that she was clearly drunk but when a slow song had started to play she had even slow danced with Leo and kissed him passionately.

There was no denying she was drunk at this point.

Leo, Trent, Rat and Hunter were all sitting at the bar and watching her dance.

They were talking and laughing amongst themselves but Scully couldn't make out what they were saying.

She stumbled over to Leo, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Dana," he said firmly, placing his hands on her waist, "I think you should sit down for a bit. I'm worried in case you fall."

Scully sat herself down on the bar stool, grinning drunkenly at him.

"Dana," Leo whispered into her ear, stroking her hair, "please, baby, come back to my place. You know you want to."

"No!" Scully replied firmly, now shrugging him off as she got back up to dance.

She didn't see the flash of anger in his eyes.

* * *

Scully was getting really pissed off now.

She was drunk and she was tired and she just wanted to go home, put on her pyjamas and go to bed.

"C'mon…lighten up. You were having fun earlier, weren't you?"

Leo was obviously one of those guys who were unable to take a hint.

He leaned in to kiss her but Scully managed to dodge him, even more irritated now.

"C'mon, just one more kiss. Then I get to take you home."

Scully shook her head, rolled her eyes and slowly stood up.

Was this guy for real?

She swayed a little on her feet as she stood up which prompted a smirk from Leo and Scully saw something flash in his eyes.

What was that? Anger? Annoyance? Or was he just laughing at her?

Whatever it was, Scully had certainly had enough. She would phone for a cab and come back for her car in the morning.

The bar was practically empty now.

It was only Leo, his three friends and herself left.

Still swaying, she managed to unsteadily make her way towards the door.

One of Leo's friends was standing by the exit, the one with the dirty blond hair and the stubble, a drink in his hand and an arrogant smirk on his face as he watched her struggle from the bar.

What was his name again?

Forget it, she really didn't care.

Scully could feel the men's eyes following her as she stumbled out of the bar and in to the street.

It was dark and the air still felt warm and humid but it felt like a relief from the heat of earlier.

She had no idea what time it was; she just knew it was late because of how quiet the street was.

Scully found herself swaying on her feet again and she instinctively found herself leaning against a parked car, trying to steady herself.

She felt like shit.

She could feel the nausea building up in her stomach and up towards the back of her throat. It felt like the world was spinning.

Scully found herself instinctively swallowing, hoping to keep the sick feeling down.

Why did she feel so bad? She hadn't had that much to drink. It was just a couple of glasses of wine.

She managed to gather her thoughts together for long enough for the words to form in her head.

She had been drugged.

Scully heard the door of the bar open and the sound of footsteps and some jeering and laughing.

She closed her eyes. Please don't let that be them…

"She didn't get very far, did she?"

It was Leo.

He was talking to someone.

No, there was more than one person there.

A pair of hands roughly grabbed Scully and spun her around to face them.

It was Leo and he was smiling at her.

There was something in his eyes and Scully suddenly found herself terrified.

The intelligence and charm she had seen earlier in his eyes was no longer there and it had been replaced with something else. It was either anger or contempt. Or just pure hatred.

His three friends were standing closely behind him.

They were surrounding her. She could almost feel herself suffocating.

Before Scully had time to comprehend what was happening, Leo roughly grabbed her arms in one swift motion and pinned them above her head, holding her wrists against the roof of the car.

"Are you going somewhere, little red?" he snarled, pressing his face into hers.

Scully could almost taste his breath.

"You wouldn't do that now, would you little red? Not when you've been leading us on all night"

Scully wanted to scream. She wanted to cry out but it was like her brain wasn't connected to her mouth and she couldn't get the sound out.

Leo smiled and forced his mouth against hers, kissing her roughly.

Inside Scully was screaming. She couldn't let this happen.

 _This cannot be happening. Stop this!_

She tried to push him away from her, but Leo had her arms firmly pinned down.

She was helpless.

Leo continued to kiss her, forcing his tongue into her mouth.

With a sudden burst of strength, Scully seized the opportunity and clamped down on his tongue, biting as hard as she could.

Leo cried out and let go, blood trickling down his chin.

With her mouth now free, she did the only thing she could think of.

She screamed.

 _Please someone help me…_

"Shut up!"

Leo backhanded Scully across the face. She felt her head hurl to the side, her cheek now stinging and her head throbbing from the blow.

She instinctively stopped screaming, her previous sudden burst of strength quickly slipping away.

Scully's head was forced the other way as a second blow was delivered to her face.

"You bitch!"

A strong hand clamped over her mouth, rendering her even more helpless.

She couldn't scream. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything.

Scully felt hot tears spring to her eyes. What had she done?

Leo's eyes were now burning into her and now she could see it. There was no denying it this time. There was hatred right there.

"Now listen," he snarled, leaning in close to her face, "you've been teasing us all night. You're the one who wanted this so just be a good girl and I promise you'll like this."

Leo motioned for one of the other men to come forward. It was the one with the dirty blond hair who had been standing by the door on her way out.

"I want you to hold her down and make sure her mouth is covered"

The blond haired man nodded and grabbed Scully's wrists, keeping them pinned into place so Leo could let go.

Scully didn't even have time to scream when Leo removed his hand from her mouth as blondie's hand was instantly there, taking over from him.

She tried again to fight, to do something, anything to push him off but it was no use.

She was drunk, probably drugged and he was too strong.

It took a moment for Scully to register what was happening. Her skirt was being pulled up. Her panties were being pulled down.

 _Oh God, no!_

She felt herself screaming inside her head.

 _You're a federal agent, why are you letting this happen?_

Fingers were being pushed inside her.

 _You're letting them do this! Do something to stop them! Fight!_

She could hear pants being unzipped.

She felt her legs being roughly pulled apart.

Scully tried to scream again but it was no use. Blondie's hand was firmly covering her mouth, muffling her screams.

 _Please someone help…_

Her eyes widened and she tried to scream again as she felt something large and painful being forced inside of her.

 _No! No! No!_

The word echoed inside her head but she couldn't say it.

Her eyes fell onto Leo who was now roughly forcing himself in and out of her.

It was hurting her, hurting her so badly.

Scully's eyes fell onto blondie again.

His name was Hunter. The name had just popped into her head like that.

Now he couldn't have looked any more like a hunter.

A hunter who had caught his prey.

She was the prey.

She knew the other two men were waiting at the side. Just watching and waiting.

Waiting for their turn.

Scully could hear laughter.

Leo continued to force himself in and out of her.

 _You slut! Why are you letting this happen? You're letting them hurt you!_

Leo was now finished with her. She heard him zipping his pants back up.

"Who's next?"

Scully felt one of the other men approach her. She didn't know which one and she realized that she didn't care.

 _You obviously can't fight this. Just survive this._

Another zipper was being unzipped.

 _Just think about something else. Just get through this. Just survive this. Don't die._

Scully hated herself for giving up so easily.

After all she'd been through she thought she was strong and could get through anything.

She had been wrong.

There was nothing else she could do but lie back and hope it would be over soon.

It was like something had taken over her mind.

She wanted to struggle. She wanted to fight. God, she wanted to fight so badly.

It was too late for that now. They were already hurting her. They were already violating her and she suddenly felt numb.

All she could think about was getting through this and surviving.

Scully could feel someone forcing themselves into her but it didn't hurt anymore. She had become numb to everything.

 _Just get through this. They may have hurt you but just survive this. As long as you don't die. As long as you live._

Scully felt her tank top being ripped open and her bra being pulled down.

She felt her breasts being exposed.

She could hear more laughter.

 _Nobody is coming to help you. Just get through this. Survive this…_

Those were her last thoughts before she found herself drifting away.

Scully felt the second man finish with her and the third man approaching, pulling down his zipper. She recognized him as the one who had been called Rat.

However, Scully no longer cared. She knew that Rat was getting ready to have his way with her just like the other two had but she was slipping away.

The world was tilting on its edge. Her vision was getting blurry.

She closed her eyes and let the darkness take her.


	2. 4am Wake Up Call

**I really should have been studying today.**

 **But instead I decided to get this chapter finished and uploaded.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Someone was banging on Mulder's door.

He rolled over and checked the time. It was four in the morning.

Who could possibly be banging on his door at this time?

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, the banging getting louder and more urgent.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he called out, picking up his gun.

Mulder knew from personal experience that someone frantically banging on your door at four in the morning was never a good sign so he made sure to have his gun ready before cautiously unlocking and opening the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him.

It was Scully.

The tank top she was wearing was torn open down the middle and she was frantically trying to shield her dignity as she attempted to keep it closed.

There was blood and dirt all over her bare legs and her hair was a mess.

There were tears streaming down her cheeks and she looked completely terrified.

Mulder had never seen her like this before.

For a moment they were silent.

Mulder wanted to say something but he couldn't get the words out. All he could do for a few seconds was stare at her horrifying appearance, trying to take it all in.

It was Scully who broke the silence.

"M-mulder? Please help me."

Her voice was quiet. It sounded small and far away but it was what Mulder needed to finally put his gun down and jump into action.

What was he doing? Something had happened to Scully…someone had hurt his Scully and all he could do was stand there looking at her with his mouth hanging open. What was wrong with him?

"Oh my God Scully, what happened?" he gasped as Scully stumbled into his apartment.

Even before the words had left his mouth Mulder was kicking himself.

It was a stupid question to ask. It was obvious what had happened to her – no, Mulder couldn't think like that, it had to be something else!

Mulder quickly shut the door and turned back to Scully who was standing beside his couch and still crying and trembling.

Mulder could feel his heart racing.

He didn't want to think about what possibly could have happened to her even as the word was forming in his head.

With his heart practically in his mouth, he gently led Scully to his couch and sat her down.

Scully was breathing heavily and Mulder could hear the sobs despite her best effort to keep them down.

Mulder kneeled down in front of her, taking her trembling hands in his.

He had to find out what happened.

There had to be some rational explanation for this.

Scully was strong, she was feisty, she was tough…something like this could never happen to his partner. It couldn't happen…she was a federal agent…she was a cop…she was intelligent and level headed and this couldn't possibly happen to her…it just couldn't!

"Scully?"

Scully looked up, her hands still in his.

Mulder's felt his heart breaking as she looked at him.

Her bright blue eyes were filled with fear and she was even starting to scare Mulder.

He had never seen her this scared before. He had never seen her this uncertain and helpless. She looked like a terrified child.

Mulder gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Scully, what happened? Who did this to you?"

His voice was soft and tender.

There were no traces of demand in his voice although he felt like screaming and hunting down whoever had hurt her…and he would find out who had done this and made sure they paid the price.

However that wasn't important right now.

Scully was the only thing that mattered.

Scully was still staring at him, her blue eyes brimming with tears.

She hadn't answered his question and Mulder could see that she didn't want to say the words. She was scared and very likely in shock.

Mulder was going to have to ask her straight.

He bit his lip, wondering how to word it and how to find the words delicate enough to use.

Deep down Mulder already knew the answer but he would have to find out for sure.

He took a deep breath and looked back up at Scully, gently rubbing her hands.

"Scully…please I need you to tell me…"

How was he supposed to ask this question? It was something that he never would have imagined in a million years having to ask his partner. How had it come to this?

He took another deep breath.

"Scully…were you raped?"

The words had barely left his mouth before Scully's face crumbled and she broke down in tears.

Despite the fresh batch of tears stinging her eyes, she shakily managed to nod her head.

 _Oh my God…_

"Oh my God, Scully, no," Mulder moaned as he attempted to pull her into a hug.

Mulder immediately regretted trying to hug her as she quickly pulled away from him, a look of pure horror and terror in her eyes.

Mulder wanted to kick himself.

She had just been raped and he was trying to touch her! Of course she didn't want to be touched or hugged…she had just been raped for crying out loud!

Scully was now leaning back on his couch, her eyes closed and her body shaking with sobs.

There were a million questions going around in Mulder's head and he wanted to scream and shout but he couldn't do that. Not with Scully here.

Scully needed him. She needed him more than ever.

Who had done this to her? How had this happened?

The questions were running at great speeds through Mulder's head but he couldn't ask those right now.

 _That bastard, that son of a bitch…_

He could feel tears well up in his own eyes but he quickly told himself to stop it…this wasn't about him right now.

Scully needed him and she needed to get help right now.

 _Scully is hurt…do something, help her!_

"Okay Scully," Mulder said, taking back control as he stood up.

Scully opened her eyes, glancing at him curiously through her tear stained eyes.

"I'm just going to grab my car keys and I'll be right back, okay?"

"Mulder," Scully choked out "what are you doing?"

Mulder frowned. It was only the second time she had spoken since she had arrived and he suddenly realized how out of it and confused she sounded. She needed to get to hospital as soon as possible.

He could have sworn he had left his car keys on the coffee table but they weren't there. Perhaps he'd left them in his bedroom earlier? He would go check.

Mulder had barely taken two steps towards his bedroom before Scully was speaking again.

"Mulder," she croaked, attempting feebly to push herself up, "can I use your shower?"

Mulder instantly stopped dead in his tracks, unsure he had heard her correctly at first.

She wanted to have a shower.

She couldn't have a shower.

He knew that she shouldn't shower and more importantly, she knew that she shouldn't.

She was an FBI agent and a doctor and she should know better than anyone else that the last thing she should be doing right now was showering. She needed to be examined first.

She was clearly in shock and not thinking straight.

Mulder couldn't let her have a shower.

He hastily made his way back over to Scully who was now perched on the edge of his couch.

He had to talk her out of this and make her see sense.

Scully looked at him as Mulder once again kneeled down in front of her, his eyes pleading.

"Can I use your shower? I want to get washed. I'm dirty." Scully told him as if she was telling him something really obvious.

"Scully, you can't have a shower yet." Mulder tried to keep his voice as steady and gentle as possible but inside he was screaming. He couldn't let her do this.

Scully stared at him, a confused expression on her face.

Mulder could see now that she really was completely out of it.

He hadn't noticed before because she had been crying but her eyes were glassy and unfocused.

Something else had happened to her. She had been given something…drugged…

Mulder felt another surge of anger and suddenly felt the urge to lash out at something but he quickly regained control.

"I can't let you do this. You've been raped Scully. You need to go to hospital."

"No!" Scully quickly stood up, her eyes wide and frantic.

"Scully, please…"

"No! I said no hospital! No! No! No!"

She was frantic now.

She was pacing around the room, running her hand through her hair.

She was making no effort now to disguise the fact that her tank top was torn and her lopsided bra was now on show.

Mulder had to think and he had to think quickly.

"Scully, you really do need to be checked out. You might have injuries you don't know about and they will need to be looked at. You don't need to report it but you might be hurt Scully." Mulder was pleading, saying the words he thought she wanted to hear right now.

The words were spinning around inside Mulder's head. Pregnancy. STD's. Injuries.

 _God, that bastard…_

She needed to be examined and checked over.

Scully had stopped pacing and was once again standing beside the couch and trembling.

"Please Scully," Mulder pleaded, "I won't leave you alone, I promise. I'll be there with you through everything. You know I won't leave you."

He didn't know what else to say.

He was terrified himself.

Mulder watched his partner intently, hoping that she'd agree with him.

What if she refused? He didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want to do. That would just add insult to injury.

He could restrain her but that would just traumatize her further.

Mulder swallowed nervously, watching her reaction.

Scully's eyes were darting frantically around the room but to Mulder's relief, she nodded, silently agreeing with him.

Mulder breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, I'm just going to get my car keys."

Mulder headed into his bedroom to retrieve his keys.

If he had left them in there they would probably be on his dresser but he couldn't see them.

Frowning he ran his hands behind his water bed and then behind his dresser.

They weren't there.

Getting annoyed now he opened up his underwear drawer in desperation and there they were.

Mulder rolled his eyes.

He didn't know how his car keys had ended up in his underwear drawer and right now he didn't really care.

He needed to get back to Scully.

"Okay, Scully, I've found them," Mulder called out as he headed back out of the bedroom.

Mulder suddenly stopped dead.

Scully was gone.

It happened in an instant and as soon as he realized she was gone, there was a sickening blow in the pit of his stomach as he heard the sound of water running in his bathroom.


	3. The Doctor Is In

**I'm not really sure I like this chapter to be honest. I felt a bit bored writing it so I hope it's not boring to read.**

 **Anyway on with the story.**

* * *

Mulder's heart leapt into his mouth and before he had time to think about what he was doing; he was running into the bathroom.

The shower was running but Scully was standing beside the sink, fumbling with the button on her skirt.

"Scully?"

Scully looked up, a bewildered expression on her face. She looked almost surprised to see him there.

Mulder studied her face closely. She had stopped crying now but her eyes were still red and puffy. He also noticed a purple bruise forming on her face which he could have sworn wasn't there before.

Her eyes were puffy and swollen but they were still glassy and unfocused.

She looked confused. Almost like she didn't have a clue where she was or what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" Mulder breathed, taking a step towards her.

"I was about to have a shower," Scully replied.

She sounded so matter of fact. Like she was talking about the weather or what she had ate for dinner. Not like she had just been raped and was unwittingly about to wash away the evidence.

Mulder walked over to the shower and switched it off.

He expected Scully to start shouting at him or crying or try to fight him but she didn't.

When he turned around she was still standing there looking at him blankly.

She was just staring at him with an expression which was a cross between confusion and complete emotionless.

Mulder couldn't really tell which.

Now she really was beginning to scare him.

With a sigh, Mulder walked back over to Scully, studying her intently.

Apart from the fact that she had been attempting to remove her skirt before he walked in; she was still wearing all of her clothes and she wasn't wet so Mulder could at least relax.

"You haven't actually been in the shower, have you?" Mulder asked her, already knowing the answer but just wanting to make sure.

"No," Scully croaked, "I was about to but then you came in and I'm not showering in front of you."

"Okay," Mulder breathed a sigh of relief, "you can't have a shower yet Scully. You can have one later after you've been checked over at the hospital."

"Why?"

This was getting tedious now.

"Because you're hurt. You need to have the doctors take a look at you to make sure you're okay." Mulder explained slowly, as if he was explaining something really obvious to a child.

Mulder could feel his heart breaking as he looked at her.

She didn't look like Scully at all.

She was just completely gone.

Mulder found himself choking back tears. He wanted to touch her, to hold her and hug her but he knew she wouldn't want that right now.

No matter how much he might think it would make her feel better, he would have to tell himself that it would only upset her further right now.

Would she even be able to consent to a rape kit in this condition? Or would he have to do it for her?

"Dana," Mulder whispered softly.

The use of her first name caught Scully's attention and she was suddenly looking straight at him, her eyes wide and curious.

"I've got my car keys. We need to go to the hospital now."

* * *

The sun was rising by the time they arrived in the emergency room.

Scully sat down on a cold plastic chair whilst Mulder explained to the nurse at the reception desk what had happened which didn't take too long as he barely knew himself what had happened.

"She's been raped and I think she may also have been drugged. She seems so confused and out of it." Mulder hastily explained to the nurse as she typed away at a keyboard, taking down the details.

"Did she tell you who her attacker was?" the nurse asked as she continued to type.

"No," Mulder hesitated "I don't think she knows herself. We haven't spoken about that."

"And you're her partner, correct? And you're the first person she told?"

"I think so. I think she came to see me straight after it happened."

Mulder heard himself say the words but he wasn't really registering what he was saying.

There was a voice in his head screaming why any of this was even relevant.

Why did it matter who he was? Why did it matter whether he was the only person she had told? Scully was hurt! Some bastard hurt Scully!

As he was talking, he kept glancing nervously at Scully, making sure she was still there and wasn't going to disappear again.

Meanwhile Scully was watching him intently.

She could see him talking to the nurse and see her frantically typing away on a keyboard.

She watched as the nurse pulled out a clipboard and explained something to Mulder but she couldn't hear what was being said. Everything seemed so distant and far away.

Scully felt very strange.

She knew what was happening and what had happened but it didn't seem real to her.

She felt like her brain wasn't working properly and nothing was really making sense.

She should have been crying and screaming right now but she was all cried out and now she just felt numb.

It was almost like she wasn't really her and she was watching this through someone else's eyes; almost like she was watching a movie and this was all happening to someone else.

Scully glanced down at her legs.

They were dirty and covered in blood so why didn't she feel more upset?

"Dana Scully?"

Scully had been absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed the footsteps approach her.

She looked up and saw two women there.

A doctor and a nurse, she presumed.

As if reading her mind, the woman spoke again.

"Dana, I'm Dr Andrews and this is nurse Taylor. I will be examining you and nurse Taylor will be assisting me," Dr Andrews explained, smiling.

Dr Andrews had dark brown hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail and nurse Taylor had short chin length light brown hair.

They were both smiling reassuringly at her.

Scully nervously glanced up at the reception desk and saw Mulder making his way over to her.

"Scully, are you ready for this?" Mulder asked, his voice full of concern as he watched his partner shakily stand up.

Scully nodded slowly, her bottom lip trembling.

Rape kit? Examination?

The words were racing through Scully's head.

She knew what they meant.

She was an FBI agent and a doctor.

She knew exactly what happened during a rape forensics exam and she knew exactly what was going to happen to her.

She didn't want to do this.

She didn't want to be a rape victim but now that is what she was and nothing could change that, especially not if she agreed to having a rape kit done.

She had the power right now to walk away.

They wouldn't chase her. They couldn't force her to have a rape kit if she didn't want to have one.

She could just walk away right now and she wouldn't have to be a rape victim.

She could just forget this whole thing happened.

Even Scully knew that wasn't true.

She also knew that despite her racing thoughts and her disorientation that she wasn't thinking straight and everyone probably knew that so perhaps they could make her have a rape kit after all.

"Scully?" Mulder whispered, reaching out for her but then immediately thinking better and pulling away from her.

Scully found herself nodding.

"Okay," she whispered softly.

Dr Andrews and the nurse quickly lead Scully into an examination room.

Scully felt her heart beat faster as she glanced around the room.

She knew what to expect. She knew what was going to happen but seeing everything there suddenly made this all too real.

It is real, she reminded herself.

She still felt a bit strange and lightheaded.

She was still out of it and still felt distanced.

Scully glanced around the room again, taking it all in.

There was an examination table in the middle of the room and a table and chair beside it.

Scully saw the various instruments and tools laid out on the table which were going to be used to collect their evidence.

The nurse was talking to her, leading her over to the white sheet that had been laid out.

Scully knew what was going to happen but she was grateful everything was still being explained to her.

They told her to stand on the white sheet, which she did, her legs knocking together because they were shaking so much.

Nurse Taylor then returned, carrying some bags which she knew her clothes would be put into.

"Okay, Dana, I'm going to hold this sheet in front of you. Then I'm going to need you to undress and hand each item of clothing over to the nurse individually so she can bag them."

Scully shakily nodded.

She removed her torn tank top first, followed by her bra.

Then off came her skirt and panties.

As instructed she handed each garment over to the nurse who swiftly bagged them and labelled them.

Scully felt gross.

She was naked.

She was vulnerable and exposed all over again.

She felt fresh tears burn her eyes as the nurse handed her a gown to put on which Scully was grateful for.

She was then led over to the examination table and told to sit down.

First came the questions.

When was her last period? When was her last pap smear? Was she currently on birth control?

Scully could hear herself answer but her words didn't make sense to her. It was like she was on autopilot and answering without even thinking or registering her words.

"Did he wear a condom?" Dr Andrews asked whilst making notes on a sheet of paper on a clipboard.

Scully found herself cringing but she wasn't sure why.

"N-no," she managed to stammer out, "it wasn't a he. I mean, there was more than one person, there was four of them. I-I know two of them raped me, but I think all of them did," Scully found herself suddenly choking back a sob.

Dr Andrews nodded, making more notes and continuing with her questioning.

The questions continued.

Had she had sexual intercourse in the last five days? Was there any anal penetration or fellatio?

Scully's eyes continued to burn as she answered.

She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to be here.

"Did you have anything to drink or take any drugs?"

Scully hesitated for a second before nodding.

"I-I didn't take any drugs," she stammered, realizing how flat and emotionless her voice sounded, "I just had a couple of glasses of wine."

She hoped she wouldn't be questioned further and to her relief, Dr Andrews simply nodded and scribbled something onto her clipboard.

The realization had suddenly hit her.

She didn't normally drink and even when she did she rarely got drunk.

Yet for some reason she had been drunk.

What if she hadn't been drunk? What if she hadn't been drinking at all? She might have been able to fight them off.

Scully closed her eyes, the thoughts swimming in her head.

She was an idiot for going with them at all.

If only she had told Leo that she didn't want to go with him. If only she had gone straight back to her car…

But no, she chose then to be stupid, to be an idiot.

She was normally so smart and rational so what the hell was wrong with her when she stupidly agreed to go to a bar with a stranger?

They were taking pictures now.

Scully grimaced as she was asked to lower her gown and she heard the camera flash.

This was all her fault.

They were now asking her to hold out her arms so they could take pictures of them.

Scully noticed for the first time that her wrists were bruised.

She remembered how she had been held down by her wrists. They had held her down with all of their power so she couldn't go anywhere but she had tried to struggle at first and now her wrists were bruised because of that.

Because of her.

She was bruised and hurt and it was all her fault.

They were taking even more pictures and Scully found herself drifting away.

" _I'm having a drink at Miller's. I'll buy you a drink."_

She never should have accepted the drink that Leo had given her.

She never should have gone with him at all.

" _She didn't get very far, did she?"_

Scully heard his voice in her head and wondered if she would ever forget.

She should have ran as soon as she left the bar. She should have got as far away from them as possible.

Instead she had stood there like an idiot.

They were done with pictures for now but they told her that they might need to take some more later.

However right now they needed to begin the examination.

Scully heard the words but she didn't quite understand them.

She felt herself flinching when Dr Andrews told her to open her mouth so she could take some swabs however she reluctantly let her.

It felt strange to have someone this close to her. Someone who she didn't know. Scully knew she didn't like it.

When they'd finished swabbing her mouth they started scraping under her fingernails.

Scully didn't see the point.

She knew what they were doing but she couldn't remember scratching at them.

Next they were using that lamp on her.

What was it called again?

Scully should know this but her brain felt all fuzzy.

Perhaps if she drifted away again it would all be over?

" _Are you going somewhere, little red?"_

Perhaps she would be fired.

She was a federal agent but she still got herself raped.

What kind of cop was she?

Nobody would take her seriously anymore and rightfully so.

Who wants to work with the cop who got herself raped? Who would want to have a federal agent who got herself in a state in a bar and ended up getting raped?

This wasn't supposed to happen to her.

Wood's lamp.

That's what it was called.

They were now combing her hair and collecting DNA from her hair.

" _You wouldn't do that now, would you little red? Not when you've been leading us on all night."_

Scully had kissed Leo.

Maybe if she hadn't done that, none of this would have happened.

She must have given him the wrong message.

Maybe she didn't make it clear enough that she didn't want it and she just wanted to go home.

They might not have done it then.

The sound of Dr Andrews voice snapped Scully out of her thoughts.

"You said it's been four months since your last pap smear, correct?" she asked whilst flipping through her notes.

"About four months, yes," Scully croaked, still hating how her voice sounded.

Everyone must think she sounded stupid.

They were probably right.

The nurse walked over to the bottom of the examination table and started pulling up some stirrups from underneath the table.

Scully glanced up at Dr Andrews pleadingly.

She really didn't want to do this.

"It's okay Dana" Dr Andrews said softly, reassuring her, "this won't take long I promise. Just lie back, close your eyes and it will over before you know it"

Both the doctor and the nurse had to gently guide Scully to lie down which she was reluctant to do.

The thought of lying down suddenly made her feel so vulnerable and out of control.

Once she was lying down she felt her feet being guided into the stirrups.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Scully could feel them there.

She felt hot and cold at the same time.

She could feel them between her legs, brushing her pubic hair and taking swabs.

She told herself to think of something else.

Mulder.

What would Mulder think of her now?

He would think she couldn't do her job properly.

He would try to smother her, protect her and maybe that's not what she wanted.

He was never going to let her out of his sight now and all because she made a stupid irrational decision and she couldn't keep herself safe.

Scully could feel something pushing into her.

Her eyes shot open in a flash and she felt herself panic.

"No!" she cried out, trying to push herself up.

"Dana, it's okay. We just need one more swab and then we're done."

Scully could feel her eyes burning as she felt her body trying to push the speculum out.

The nurse gently stroked her hair, whispering in her ear.

"It's okay. Just one more second and it will all be over."

Scully closed her eyes tightly again and began counting backwards from ten.

She had barely reached eight when she felt Dr Andrews move away and tell her they were finished.

Scully removed her legs from the stirrups and sat up.

She was shaking and she wanted to cry.

The nurse was still stroking her hair.

"You can have a shower now if you want one and we'll give you some fresh clothes," the nurse told her, smiling reassuringly at her.

"Will you get Mulder for me? I want Mulder."

Then she promptly burst into tears.


	4. The Nightmare Begins

**Once again, I have another long chapter for you guys. I don't know what it is with me and long chapters but I obviously must like them because this is turning out to be a very wordy fic. In fact this was originally meant to be even longer, but I edited it down a bit and split it into two chapters instead.**

 **One of my reviewers mentioned bringing in Olivia Benson to help Scully through this which is kind of funny because I've recently started watching SVU for the first time and am really getting into it. Olivia Benson is now my second favourite TV character after Scully of course.**

 **Now on with the story**

* * *

Mulder didn't know how long Scully sobbed into his shoulder for, but he knew at some point she stopped and reluctantly agreed to have a blood test and allow the doctor to give her a tetanus shot for the cuts on her legs.

She also reluctantly agreed to take the morning after pill despite her protests that she couldn't get pregnant. The doctor however insisted that she take it, just in case.

Mulder's stomach churned as he watched the vial fill with Scully's blood, the horrible thoughts racing around his head.

What if this bastard had given her something?

He glanced up at Scully's face, wanting to reassure her, wanting to tell her everything was going to be okay even though he had no idea if that was even true but her eyes were squeezed shut and she was trembling.

The nurse then handed her some fresh clothes and showed her the way to the shower.

Now all Mulder could do was wait.

He was sick of waiting. It was all he had done since he had got here and nobody was telling him anything. He wanted answers, damn it!

He checked his watch. It was now nearly midday and his stomach was rumbling.

He hadn't eaten anything all day and he wondered if he would have time to go get some food before realizing that Scully was probably far more hungry than he was.

He could be so selfish and stupid at times. Of course he couldn't get some food yet. He would have to wait for Scully because she needed him. How would she feel if she came out of the shower to find he had left her when she needed him most? How would he ever forgive himself?

Mulder was getting pissed off now. Why wasn't anyone telling him anything? Why weren't they telling him if Scully was going to be okay?

She had to be okay, God he couldn't live with himself if she wasn't.

He placed his head in his hands. He could feel the tears welling in his eyes despite his best effort to fight them back.

He couldn't cry, not now…

"Mr Mulder?"

Mulder quickly looked up at the mention of his name.

Dr Andrews was looking at him, her face full of concern.

"Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"

Why was she asking him if he was okay? He wasn't the one who was hurt. Scully was the one who was hurt, she was the one who needed help.

She needed _him_ to help her.

Mulder felt ashamed of himself. What must he look like? He needed to pull himself together.

He quickly waved the doctor's concern for him away. He needed to know about Scully.

"How is Scully? Is she going to be okay? Who did this to her?" Mulder heard the words tumble from his mouth without even thinking about what he was saying.

"We are unsure who her attackers were. I wasn't able to get much detail from her, but from what I've gathered, she doesn't know who her attackers were and only met them yesterday evening and they assaulted her later that night," Dr Andrews explained.

Mulder felt sick.

"They?" he whispered, not wanting to believe it, "there was more than one?"

"She says that there were four men there, however she was only aware of being sexually assaulted by two men and the third man approaching her before she lost consciousness," Dr Andrews explained whilst flipping through the notes on her chart, "I have collected semen and DNA from her so I will get those sent off to the lab to be tested and they will be able to tell us if all four of the men assaulted her."

Mulder couldn't take it anymore. He felt dizzy and he felt like he was going to throw up.

He sat back down on one of the plastic chairs, breathing heavily.

He could feel the doctor's eyes on him, searching him and wondering if he was okay.

 _God, those bastards!_

He glanced up at the doctor, nodding his head and encouraging her to continue.

He didn't want to hear more about what had happened but he knew he had to. He needed to know if she was going to be okay and he needed to know so he could help her through this.

"I examined her and she doesn't need any reconstructive surgery or stitches. There is quite a lot of vaginal trauma, including some tearing, bruising and swelling but those should heal on their own. That said, I would recommend that she gets herself checked out again in about two weeks by her regular physician just to make sure that everything is healing as it should be. She also has bruising on her face and on her wrists along with cuts and scrapes on her legs, which are very likely from being dragged on the ground and as you know we have given her a tetanus shot just to be on the safe side."

Mulder's head was spinning.

 _Keep it together, Mulder, please keep it together…_

"We haven't contacted the police. It's hospital policy to allow the victim to decide for herself or himself whether they wish to report it and also allow them to report it in their own time and when they're ready. We have collected the evidence so it will all be kept safe if and when she decides to report this."

Mulder nodded his head. He knew Scully would want to report this at some point but he wasn't sure she would want to report this straight away.

"We will send her blood samples to the lab where it will be tested for drugs and STD's as she says her attackers didn't use condoms," the doctor continued.

Mulder's stomach churned.

If those bastards had given her anything, he would hunt them down and make them pay!

"As you know, we have given her the morning after pill as she isn't currently using any contraceptives. Even though she says she can't get pregnant, we would still advise that she gets a pregnancy test when she visits her own doctor in about two weeks just to be on the safe side. I am also going to prescribe her a course of antibiotics which she will need to take one of once a day until the course is complete and some sleeping pills which she will need to take before she goes to bed. It is highly likely that she is going to be having nightmares but the sleeping pills will help with those."

Mulder nodded again, suddenly feeling stupid.

He wanted to say something but he couldn't get the words out. All he could manage were nods.

Dr Andrews placed her hand gently on Mulder's shoulder.

"I'm going to get you a drink of water, Mr Mulder. I think you're in shock too and you need time to process this," she said softly.

Mulder gave another head nod.

He had tried to hide it but even the doctor could see that he too was falling apart at the seams and could see he wasn't strong enough to help Scully through this.

What was Scully going to think of him?

He bit down hard on his bottom lip and tears filled his eyes as he heard the sound of the doctor walking away.

* * *

It was nearly half one by the time they left the hospital.

Scully was dressed in a loose fitting t-shirt and trousers and she felt small and strange wearing them. All she wanted to do was go home and change back into some of her own clothes.

Scully climbed into the passenger seat of the car and immediately wound down the window.

It was another hot day and Scully felt stuffy and smothered.

Before they had left the hospital Mulder had asked her if she wanted to go to her apartment or if she wanted to stay at his for a while and for Scully that was an easy question to answer.

She wanted her own bed, her own sheets and her own shower.

She had only just had a shower but already she was aching for another one.

She had scrubbed her skin until it was red raw but she still didn't feel completely clean.

She felt sweaty and dirty and occasionally she would get the sensation of someone touching her and pushing into her skin.

She felt Mulder climb into the driver's seat beside her and start the engine.

"You sure you're ready to go back to your own place?" Mulder asked, knowing that he probably sounded like a broken record but he wanted to make sure.

Scully nodded.

"Right then, let's go."

* * *

Scully glanced around her apartment.

Everything was the same way she left it.

The wine bottle was still in the sink and there was a puddle of water beside her bed where the ice pack had melted.

It felt like she had been away for weeks and she had to remind herself that it was only yesterday evening that she had taken refuge on her bed with an ice pack on her forehead and had stared out the window whilst drinking a glass of mineral water.

She bit her lip.

If only she had stayed in yesterday and read a book or something instead of getting the bright idea to go to the store for wine and ice cream…

Thinking about ice cream made her belly grumble and she suddenly realized that she hadn't eaten since dinner yesterday and she was starving.

"Right, Scully, I'm starving and I know you must be too," Mulder said, as if reading her mind.

Scully nodded and headed towards the kitchen.

"What do you want?" Mulder asked, following her into the kitchen whilst Scully opened the fridge and peered inside.

"I don't really have much in," Scully admitted, slamming the fridge door shut, "I haven't had a chance to go shopping yet. There's some leftover soup in the fridge but it's been there a while and it's too hot for soup."

"How about I get a take out then? If you tell me what you want, I can collect it," Mulder suggested, "or you can come with me if you want."

"I think I'll be fine alone, Mulder," Scully whispered, managing a small smile, "in fact, being left alone will give me a chance to think for a bit."

Mulder nodded, understanding what she meant.

Mulder wasn't sure what to do.

He wanted to place a hand on her shoulder or hug her but he didn't know if that would upset her.

After working together for six years he never could have imagined being in a situation like this. Usually when she was upset or something bad had happened he would take her in his arms and let her cry until she felt better.

However, this time was different. He didn't want to invade her personal space when she felt so vulnerable. He would have to let her decide how she wanted to handle things.

If she was the one to hug him or cry onto her shoulder like she had done at the hospital that would be different.

He couldn't be the one to take her in his arms this time.

They finally decided on sushi for lunch.

Mulder wasn't a big sushi lover but Scully was too hot to eat a big meal even though she was hungry so she had decided on sushi.

Mulder twirled his car keys as he nervously watched Scully who was now sitting on the couch.

She had said that she didn't mind being left alone for a while but he still wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" Mulder asked, hating himself for keep asking the same questions over and over but he just wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be fine," Scully managed another small smile.

Mulder gave one last concerned glance at her before heading out the door.

Scully glanced around at the empty apartment, suddenly aware that she was alone.

She suddenly felt anxious and wanted to kick herself for insisting she was going to be fine alone.

She shivered despite the heat.

Scully wasn't sure what she should do with herself until Mulder got back.

She wanted another shower but she knew that she wouldn't be out by the time Mulder got back so that would have to wait.

She decided to change into some pyjamas and tidy her apartment up. It might help her keep her mind off things.

She chose a pair of pale blue cotton pyjamas which she quickly changed into, tossing the clothes the hospital had given her aside.

She shivered again.

Something wasn't right.

Someone was watching her.

Scully could feel their eyes on her, burning into her.

She quickly turned around, expecting to find someone standing behind her but there was nobody there.

 _Get a grip, Dana, you're being paranoid._

Scully decided she would start with clearing up that puddle beside her bed and get rid of that ice pack.

She bent down and her hands had barely touched the ice pack before she felt it again.

Someone _was_ watching her.

She quickly turned around again but once again nobody was there. Her apartment was empty.

No, that wasn't right. Someone was here. She could feel them.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice trembling.

As soon as the word left her mouth Scully heard it.

A knock on her door.

Her heart began to race and she felt sick.

There was someone in her apartment and now there was someone at her door.

"Please go away…" she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Another knock at her door, louder this time.

" _Are you going somewhere, little red?"_

The knocking was getting even louder now.

Scully could hear something ringing in her ear and she could feel the room spinning.

She knew it was them. They had found her. They knew where she lived and they had come back for her…they had come to hurt her again.

Scully fell to the floor, sobbing.

"Please just go away," she managed to croak, "please just leave me alone."

Scully closed her eyes, the ringing in her ears getting louder and the room spinning even faster now.

She could hear breathing behind her and she could smell his drunken breath.

Had they come to kill her?

"It's okay, little red. I've found you."

Scully was hysterical now.

She knew that voice.

"Please…please…" Scully sobbed.

It was happening again and just like the last time she was powerless to stop it.

The banging on her door was becoming louder and more frantic. Did Mulder lock the door before he left?

"It's okay, Scully. I've found you…"

Scully was going to be sick.

There was a voice screaming at her inside her head, telling her to fight back, to save herself, but she couldn't.

She was weak.

She was pathetic.

"Scully…Scully…answer me, Scully!"

Scully?

Someone was shaking her.

She looked up, the ringing in her ear slowly fading and the room slowly coming back into focus.

Mulder was leaning down in front of her, his eyes filled with fear.

"Scully?" he whispered.

"Mulder," Scully croaked before collapsing into his arms, sobbing.

"Hush, it's okay Scully, I'm here," Mulder whispered, gently rubbing her back.

Mulder had no idea what had happened.

He had arrived back to her apartment to find his partner hunched up on the floor in her bedroom, sobbing and inconsolable.

She had been crying out, telling someone to leave her alone.

"Mulder," she sobbed, pulling away from him, "they were here. They were in my apartment and they wanted to hurt me again."

"Scully, look at me," Mulder gently met the gaze of her tear filled blue eyes.

It made sense to Mulder now.

She must have been having a flashback.

He knew no one was in her apartment and no one had been in her apartment apart from him but how could he make her see that?

"Scully…please. You need to trust me. You were having a flashback. Nobody has been in your apartment. No one is going to hurt you anymore, Scully. I'm right here and I won't let anyone hurt you. It's over now. It's over."

For the second time in hours, Scully clung to Mulder, crying.

She knew that wasn't true and that it wasn't over.

The nightmare was only just beginning.


	5. Information Laid Out

**This will actually be my last update for a while as I have exams coming up and have to study so hopefully this chapter will keep you all hanging in suspense until my next update.**

 **Now enough about me and on with the story**

* * *

Scully was expecting to have nightmares so she was relieved that she managed to have an uneventful sleep.

She had reluctantly agreed to take the sleeping pills which had been prescribed for her after a bit of nagging from Mulder.

The sleeping pills had no doubt done the trick and allowed her to have a peaceful uneventful sleep.

Scully rolled over in bed and checked the time.

It was half six in the morning and she knew she had woke up because she would normally be getting up for work at this time.

However she wasn't going to work. Mulder had taken care of that for both of them yesterday.

She yawned and stretched and climbed out of bed. It was time for her morning coffee.

She smiled as she made her way to the kitchen, catching a glimpse of Mulder who was still asleep on her couch.

He had insisted on staying over which Scully was grateful for. She really didn't want to be alone, especially not after her episode yesterday and she got the feeling Mulder didn't want to leave her alone either.

Scully opened the fridge and pondered what she wanted for breakfast whilst she waited for the coffee to brew.

She knew what she had to do today.

Part of her just wanted to forget about it and move on but deep down she knew she couldn't do that.

She would still have to wait for her blood test results to get back and she knew that was going to be torture.

She would have to go to the police today and get it over and done with.

Scully heard Mulder stir on the couch and a few seconds later he came trotting through into the kitchen, his hair a mess and his eyes still scrunched up with tiredness.

"Morning," Scully said, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Morning."

"Coffee?" Scully asked whilst getting another mug out, already knowing the answer.

They both sat at the kitchen table in silence for a while whilst they drank their coffee. It wasn't an awkward silence; it was their normal comfortable silence.

Everything felt almost normal, like nothing had happened and they were just sitting together on a regular morning getting ready for work.

Scully could feel Mulder's eyes on her and she knew he wanted to say something to her but he was holding back.

"Scully…" he started, placing his mug down on the table.

There was a silence after that. It was almost like he expected her to finish for him.

"Mulder, after we've had something to eat and we're dressed, will you come down to the police station with me?"

Mulder nodded, relieved that she had been the one to bring it up.

He didn't want to pressurise her into making a decision, but they both knew the sooner she reported this the better.

"As long as you're ready, Scully."

"I'm ready. I need to do this."

Another silence followed whilst they finished their coffee.

"How did you manage to get us both the day off work today? What did you tell Skinner? You didn't tell him what happened, did you?"

It had been playing on her mind since he had told her that neither of them had to go to work and that he had sorted it all out with Skinner.

Scully was nervous. She didn't want her boss to know what had happened yet. She already felt weak and fragile and she didn't want everyone at work to know.

She wasn't even sure she wanted Skinner to know at all. She was scared in case he thought she couldn't do her job and that she would be fired.

Who would trust an FBI agent who got herself raped?

To her relief, Mulder shook his head.

"I didn't tell him, Scully. I would never do that to you. I don't want you to worry about that right now. Just let me deal with that, okay?"

Scully suddenly felt annoyed.

He was treating her like she was stupid and needed to be protected from everything. He was treating her like she he didn't think she could handle it.

Deep down Scully knew he was right.

Perhaps she should just quit her job. At least it was more dignified than being fired.

Scully stood up, suddenly wanting to get away from Mulder.

"I'm going in the shower."

* * *

The two detectives quickly showed Scully and Mulder into an interview room and they both sat down in unison; Scully gripping Mulder's hand tightly.

Scully wasn't sure she was ready for this.

She had felt ready and confident when she woke up but her confidence and certainty was slipping away with each passing moment.

She knew the detectives were going to ask her some uncomfortable and personal questions and she wasn't sure she could face up to that right now.

However, Scully knew it was too late to back out of this. She had promised Mulder she was going to report this and she couldn't let him down.

The two detectives introduced themselves as Detective Aiken and Detective Coleman.

Scully shifted uncomfortably in her chair and squeezed Mulder's hand even harder as she watched Detective Aiken flip through her notepad which Scully knew would be used to record the intimate details which she was about the share.

Scully caught Mulder's eye and he smiled at her.

"Are you sure you're really ready for this, Scully?" he asked, sensing her anxiety.

Scully smiled back and nodded her head.

It was now or never.

"Okay then, let's get started," Aiken said whilst scribbling on her notepad to make sure her pen was working, "your name is Dana Scully and you're an FBI agent and a medical doctor, correct?"

"That is correct," Scully replied as she watched Aiken make some notes in her notepad.

Scully couldn't help but feel impatient and slightly annoyed. She knew they had to ask these questions in order to build a case but did they really need to rub the fact that she was an FBI agent in? It felt like they were rubbing salt into the wounds.

"Okay Dana, we need to ask some questions about what you were doing on the day leading up to the assault. We understand that you had been at home all day, is that correct?"

"Yes," Scully nodded, "it was a very hot day and I had been in my apartment all day."

"Had you had anything to drink or taken any drugs at this point?"

"No, I had not had anything to drink at this point."

Aiken nodded as she proceeded to make some more notes.

Scully caught sight of Detective Coleman and he was looking at her with a blank expression on his face.

Scully explained how she left her apartment at about twenty to seven intending to get some wine and ice cream and how she never intended to go to the bar in the first place.

She explained how she had bumped into a man who introduced himself as Leo and how he had offered to buy her a drink if she came to the bar with him.

She made a point of explaining how she would never normally do anything like that and how it was completely out of character for her.

"I was hot," Scully explained as Aiken continued writing everything down, "he, um, Leo told me that I would have to drive for a while if I was going to find another store that was open so I agreed to go to the bar and have a drink with him."

Scully heard the words leave her mouth and she could hear how stupid she must sound.

How could she have been so gullible? Of course there would have been another store open.

She had fallen straight into Leo's trap the moment he told her he would buy her a drink.

He probably knew exactly what he was going to do to her from the moment he laid eyes on her.

Scully bit down hard on her bottom lip. She wasn't going to cry again, not now.

"So, um, I left my car there and went with him," Scully continued.

Her car.

She had completely forgotten about her car. It was still there.

"Oh my God, Mulder, my car is still there," Scully turned to her partner, her eyes wide.

Neither of them had noticed the absence of her car as Mulder had driven her everywhere since she had turned up at his apartment.

"I-I'm not going back there, Mulder," Scully's voice trembled and she felt her hand tightening around his.

"You don't have to go back there, Scully," Mulder reassured her, "I'll get your car later, okay?"

His voice was soft and tender.

Scully slowly nodded her head, breathing a sigh of relief.

There was silence for a few minutes whilst Scully composed herself enough in order to continue giving her statement.

She went on to explain that Leo had introduced her to his three friends in the bar and how they had been introduced to her as Trent, Rat and Hunter.

She recalled how Leo and bought her a drink and how she ended up drunk after only one and a half glasses of wine.

"I-I don't know what he did," Scully's voice was trembling again as she struggled to put her thoughts into words, "but I don't normally get drunk that fast. I think he must have drugged me."

"At what point do you think he could have drugged you, Dana?"

It was Coleman who was speaking now.

Scully didn't know if it was her imagination but she could almost sense an air of disbelief in Coleman's voice.

"I-I don't know," Scully admitted, "I-I guess at some point before he put the drink in front of me. I mean, I was kind of distracted I guess."

"I'm going to ask you some questions now that you might find a bit intrusive and personal. You might find them hard to answer but we have to ask and it is important that we know," Aiken continued, taking control back from her partner.

"Okay," Scully whispered, knowing what was coming.

"Did you at any point during the night flirt with any of these men or kiss them?"

Scully could feel a knot forming in her stomach and her eyes burn but she nodded.

"I-I kissed Leo," she admitted, "I was drunk and wasn't thinking straight. I never normally do that. I guess he may have thought I was flirting with him but I was drunk and I don't normally do things like this."

Scully felt ashamed. What would the detectives think about her? They probably thought she was nothing more than a slut.

She felt like a slut.

She wanted to tear her own skin off and crawl away from it.

How could she face up to herself and what she had done?

"Did you at any point during the night tell these men that you wanted to have sex with them or that you would have sex with them?"

Scully could almost feel the anger coming from Mulder beside her.

She knew that he wanted to lash out right now and scream.

She knew he wanted to hurt someone.

Even Mulder was angry at her and disgusted at her for being so stupid.

Her own partner thought she was nothing more than a slut.

"I-I didn't tell them I wanted to have sex with them," Scully said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I-I didn't want to have sex with any of them. Leo kept trying to get me to go home with him but I kept telling him that I didn't want to. I think that made him angry."

Tears began to stream down Scully's face.

She looked up and caught Mulder's eye.

Mulder tried to smile at her, tried to reassure her and encourage her to continue but Scully could see it in his eyes.

He was angry at her and more importantly, he was ashamed of her.

"Did you make it clear that you didn't want to have sex with them?" Coleman asked, pushing a box of Kleenex towards her.

Scully took a Kleenex and began wiping the tears away.

Did she make it clear enough? She thought she had but she was beginning to doubt herself.

Scully could feel Mulder's rage as she began to recall what had happened when she left the bar.

She could hear the words come out of her mouth as she tried her best to recall every detail of her rape whilst trying to ignore Mulder seething beside her.

The detectives would occasionally ask questions when they needed more details.

She told them how she tried to escape but they held her hands above her head and she couldn't fight them off.

She told them how she wanted to scream but one of them always had their hand over her mouth.

She described Leo's dark brown hair and his intelligent brown eyes.

As she was talking, she found herself feeling surprised that she could recall every single detail about the men. It was almost like their faces had been etched into her brain and she wasn't sure if they would ever go away.

"Dana, I know it's hard, but we need to make sure. Are you sure you made it clear that you didn't want to have sex with them? Are you sure you said no?"

"You've already asked her that question," Mulder shot back, narrowing his eyes at the detectives.

It was the first time Mulder had spoken in a long time. His face was red and he was glaring at the detectives.

Scully swallowed.

She couldn't remember if she had said no or not.

She was pretty sure that she had told them to leave her alone but she suddenly couldn't remember.

"I'm sorry, but we need to ask, just to make sure," Aiken explained.

"It was a hot day, wasn't it, Dana?" Coleman pressed on, leaning towards Scully.

Scully wasn't sure where he was going with this but she knew it couldn't be good.

"What were you wearing, Dana?"

Scully felt as though he had slapped her.

The room suddenly went silent.

It was Mulder who spoke up first and broke the eerie silence.

"This isn't really relevant, is it?" his voice was barely above a whisper but Scully could hear the contempt in his voice.

Scully felt dizzy. She suddenly wanted to be out of this room.

She instinctively reached for her shoulder to pull up the straps on her purse only to be surprised to find that she didn't have a purse with her.

Her purse.

She had her purse with her that night in the bar but she had left it on the bar stool when she got up to dance.

She didn't pick it up again before she had left.

She had left it there.

Her purse had money in and some credit cards.

Scully swallowed, the realization hitting her like a tonne of bricks.

Her FBI ID badge was in there.

She had left her FBI ID badge in the bar.

* * *

The tall dark haired man pushed his way impatiently past the couple who were kissing each other passionately beside the exit of the smoky bar.

They broke apart for a few seconds and the pretty blonde woman threw him a dirty look as he pushed past.

"Feisty," he muttered as he watched them resume their kiss.

The man shook his head and instinctively reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette as he stepped out of the bar and into the fresh air.

"You know Leo, you're the only person I know who leaves a bar full of people smoking to get some fresh air just to light one up yourself."

"Jesus, Hunter, do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

The man with the dirty blond smiled at him as he reached into his own pocket for a cigarette.

"Mind if I join you on your walk?" Hunter asked.

Before Leo even had a chance to answer, Hunter was strolling along beside him and lighting up his own cigarette.

"I don't think I have a choice in the matter, do I?" Leo muttered as they walked across the road.

"So, what you up to today?" Hunter asked, eyeing up the taller man with a smirk, "out looking for another girlfriend?"

Leo took a drag from his cigarette and rolled his eyes.

"Seriously Leo, I need to show you something," Hunter said, abruptly stopping in front of him and stomping out his cigarette.

"Jesus Christ," Leo muttered, knocking into him, "must you do that?"

Hunter was now rummaging through his pocket.

"Remember that chick from the other night? Dana was it?"

Leo raised his eyebrow.

"You mean little red? Sure I remember."

"I went back to the bar after we were done with her. She left her purse on the bar stool," Hunter explained.

"Please don't tell me you took her purse," Leo sighed, "what have I told you about that?"

Hunter had found what he was looking for and he thrust it into Leo's face.

Leo smirked.

It was an FBI ID badge.

He looked at it for a few seconds before he burst out laughing.

"God damn it Leo, it's not funny!" Hunter spat.

"You're right, it's not funny," Leo said as he stopped laughing and mockingly rearranged his features into a serious expression, "it's hilarious."

"God damn it!" Hunter roughly grabbed Leo by the collar.

"Whoa, easy there, big boy," he scoffed, pushing the blond man away, "so the lovely Dana Scully is an FBI agent? Interesting…very interesting."

Leo began walking again and Hunter began following him.

Leo was smirking which was pissing Hunter off. He clearly thought it was a big joke.

Did he not understand what they had done?

They had raped a federal agent.

There was no way they were going to get away with this. There was probably a whole police force out looking for them right now. They were probably on the FBI's most wanted list at this very moment as they spoke yet Leo didn't seem to have a care in the world.

Leo appeared to read his mind as at that point he stopped walking again and proceeded to stand in front of Hunter, blocking his way.

"I see what's going on here," Leo began, studying Hunter's anxious expression, "you're worried that because she's an FBI agent that she must have already reported this and now we're number one on the FBI's most wanted list, am I right?"

"She's an FBI agent, Leo. How can we not be in deep shit right now?"

"Listen," Leo had stopped smirking now and had dropped the mock serious expression as he studied the other man's eyes, "she's not going to tell anyone. Think about it now. She's an FBI agent. If she tells anyone then her reputation will be ruined. She will forever be known as the little whore who got so drunk that she couldn't keep her panties on. It's true that's what she is anyway but she won't want anyone else to know that. She will lose her job if anyone finds out about this. She's not going to tell anyone, trust me."

Hunter nodded his head, knowing that what he was saying made sense and he hoped he was right.

They began walking again and Hunter lit up another cigarette.

"Besides," Leo said, casting a sideways glance at the other man, "we know who she is now. If she ever tells anyone then I will make sure it is the last thing she ever does."


	6. Blame

**This is yet another chapter which I'm not really happy with and didn't really enjoy writing but hopefully there is someone out there who will like it.**

* * *

Scully angrily kicked off her shoes as she stormed into her apartment.

She knew Mulder was following her and she just wished he would go away and leave her alone.

They had driven back from the police station in silence but it wasn't their normal comfortable silence. That had clearly been left in her kitchen before they left her apartment that morning.

It was a horrible awkward silence like they were two strangers sitting beside each other rather than two people who had worked together for six years.

Scully could tell that Mulder wanted to say something to her but he kept holding himself back.

Scully wasn't stupid. She knew that he was desperate to tell her how it was all her fault and that he was disappointed in her and disgusted with her.

Part of her just wished that he would open her mouth and tell her exactly what he thought of her and get it over with.

"Scully…"

Mulder had followed her into her apartment and was nervously trying to catch her eye.

"Why don't you just say it?" she spat.

Mulder was caught by surprise. He hadn't expected her to suddenly lash out.

"Say what, Scully?"

"Oh, don't give me that," she spat, her voice dripping with venom, "you know fine well what I mean. Just tell me it was all my fault, you know you want to!"

Mulder didn't know what to say.

He certainly didn't think any of this was her fault and the thought hadn't even crossed his mind but he had no idea how to make Scully understand that.

He hated to admit this but he had no idea how to make her feel better.

He felt helpless and all he could do was stand there stupidly whilst Scully fixed him with the dirtiest look he had ever seen her give to anyone.

Mulder told himself to say something but he felt like the words were stuck and he couldn't get them out.

"Oh, forget it, Mulder! Just leave me alone!"

With those words, Scully stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

She then threw up into the toilet.

* * *

With the exception of the two women playing pinball in the corner of the room and the balding older man who was sitting at the bar talking to a much younger woman who kept blushing and giggling; the bar was completely empty.

The two detectives made their way over to the bar where the barman was cleaning glasses and looking bored.

The barman immediately looked up and plastered a fake smile on his face as soon as he heard their footsteps approach however his smile quickly faded when he realized the man and woman approaching were both stern looking cops.

"I'm Detective Coleman and this is Detective Aiken," the male cop said whilst they both held out their identifications to the barman.

"Can I help you?" the barman asked, his eyes nervously shifting between the two cops.

The barman was fairly young; he barely looked out of his teenage years and he had serious bright blue eyes.

"I'm not under arrest, am I?" he asked nervously whilst glancing around the bar and hoping they would at least let him step outside before they arrested him to save himself the humiliation of being arrested in front of the small number of customer he had.

"No, you're not under arrest," Aiken explained as she put her identification away and pulled a notepad and pen from her pocket, "however we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about an incident on Saturday night?"

The barman nodded, breathing a sigh of relief. That was close.

"It was me who was working Saturday night," he began as Aiken began taking notes on her notepad, "I started at seven thirty on Saturday evening and I didn't get out until about four thirty on Sunday morning."

"Perfect, so hopefully you'll be able to tell us what went on that night," Coleman said, "but before we do anything else, we need to know your name."

"It's Steve. Steve McReynolds."

Steve wondered what this was about.

It had been a while since any cops had been at Miller's and the last time it was to break up a fight that had broken out.

There had been no fights in the bar on Saturday night so Steve could only think that perhaps they were investigating a theft or a mugging or something similar.

"I'm just going to get straight to the point, Mr McReynolds. We are investigating a gang rape that allegedly took place either late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday morning."

"May we sit down?" Coleman asked and before waiting for an answer he had sat himself down on the bar stool and his partner followed his lead.

Steve raised his eyebrow, wondering whether there had been a mix up and they had got the wrong bar.

"There wasn't a rape in here. There has never been a rape in here," Steve interjected quickly.

"It didn't happen in the bar," Aiken explained patiently, "it happened outside however the alleged perpetrators and the alleged victim had been drinking here throughout the evening. Now could you tell me if you recognize any of these men?"

Aiken retrieved the sketches which had been put together using the descriptions Scully had given them and she handed them to Steve.

Steve carefully studied the sketches, his eyebrows furrowed. He recognized the men as regular customers.

He looked up at the two cops who were both watching him patiently.

"Yes, I recognise them, they all come in quite regularly. Sometimes they're together. Sometimes they're not. In fact, those two," he pointed at two of the men on the sketches, "were here earlier today. You only just missed them. I'm pretty sure his name is Hunter but I can't remember what the other one's name is."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about them? Do they come in on any particular days or any particular times?" Aiken asked.

"They just come in whenever they want," Steve shrugged, "they were all in on Saturday night actually…"

Steve's eyes were suddenly wide as the realization hit him.

They were accusing these four men of raping someone on Saturday night.

"Look," Steve said, trying to keep his voice steady but he was growing impatient, "I know these people. They have been coming in for years. They would never do anything like what you're accusing them of. I'm sure this is just some misunderstanding."

"Were they with anyone else that night, Mr McReynolds?"

It was Coleman who was talking now.

Steve's eyes widened again.

They had been with someone that night but that wasn't unusual. They were always bringing chicks back to the bar.

"Mr McReynolds?"

Steve suddenly realized that he had been staring blankly into space and he quickly snapped himself out of it.

"Um, sorry. Yes, they were with a chick that night. She had red hair and to be honest, she seemed like a bit of a slut. She was drunk and kept throwing herself at the men and dancing around the bar. She was definitely easy…please don't tell me that she's now saying they raped her?"

"Yes Mr McReynolds, that's exactly what she is saying. She claims that she left the bar intending to go home but the men followed her out and took turns sexually assaulting her," Coleman said.

"Jesus…"

There was silence for a few seconds as one of the women who had been playing on the pinball machine began to stumble drunkenly towards the bathroom. The sound of vomiting quickly followed.

Steve turned back to the cops, his face twisted in annoyance.

He knew that these men would never rape anyone so he was pissed off that the cops were wasting his and their time even bothering to investigate this.

He knew that it was probably some drunk slut who had no doubt been happy to open her legs for four men but had woke up the next day regretting it and then decided to cry rape.

"Listen," Steve began, "I know you guys are just doing what you have to do. I understand that, really I do. But I think you're wasting your time here. She wasn't raped. She had regret sex."

He proceeded to pick up one of the glasses he had been cleaning before the two detectives arrived, hoping they would get the hint that he was done with this ridiculous conversation.

"Besides," Steve interjected as the two detectives stood up, "If you look like a slut, dress like a slut and act like a slut then you shouldn't be surprised when people treat you like a slut."

* * *

Scully had been in the shower for over an hour and Mulder wondered if he should knock to let her know he was still there.

He decided against it as he remembered what she had said before storming into the bathroom.

She didn't want to speak to him.

More than that, she wanted him to leave.

Mulder had been debating whether he should honour her wishes ever since she had stormed off into the bathroom but he couldn't bring himself to leave.

She had left her purse with her FBI identification in at the bar and there was a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him Scully shouldn't be left alone.

If she was mad at him for still being there when she got out of the shower, then so be it.

Mulder switched on the television, wondering if Scully's rape would be reported in the news. The police had told them they would try to get this out to the media as quickly as possible so they could catch these guys.

Mulder had been angry at the police station as he listened to Scully recall what had happened to her that night.

It was the first time he had heard what had happened but he was angry at them, not at Scully.

Scully couldn't possibly think that he was angry at her, could she?

If he was angry at either of them then it was himself who he was angry with.

Mulder had actually been planning to invite Scully over to his apartment that night to share another bottle of wine and a take-out however he had chickened out at the last minute.

He was afraid she'd say no, that she'd turn him down.

If only he hadn't been so pathetic and actually asked her that night then none of this would have happened.

She would never have gone to the store. She would never have met those bastards and gone with them to the bar.

He swallowed. She would never have been raped.

She would have been with him. She would have been safe and they wouldn't be in this mess right now.

Mulder pictured him and Scully on the couch together, laughing with each other whilst they shared a bottle of wine and watched a movie.

Instead he had been tucked up in bed himself. He had been fast asleep without a care in the world whilst those bastards were raping Scully and he wasn't there to protect her.

The sketches of the four men suddenly flashed up on screen.

Mulder threw the remote down on the couch and leaned forward.

"You're not going to get away with this," Mulder whispered at the faces on the television, "you just wait. Because I am not going to let any of you get away with this."


	7. Mind Games

**I can't believe it's been over two months since I last updated this! I have been so busy with university recently and I also just haven't really been in the writing kind of mood so that's why it's took so long.**

 **I'm not sure I'm happy with this chapter to be honest but I promise there will be some interesting turns of events in the next chapter...and hopefully someone will like this chapter too!**

* * *

Scully angrily tossed the empty shampoo bottle into the trash.

She felt like she was going crazy. She could have sworn that she only bought that bottle a couple of weeks ago but perhaps she was mistaken.

It had been almost three months since she had been raped but it seemed so distant and far away. Sometimes it felt like it hadn't happened at all and it had all been a dream.

She still kept expecting to wake up and realize that the past three months had simply been some weird messed up nightmare.

The police still hadn't caught the men who raped her or managed to identify any suspects at all.

The fact that they hadn't been caught scared Scully. That meant they were still out there somewhere and maybe hurting someone else.

Perhaps they were planning on hurting her again. It was possible that Scully was being paranoid and overcautious but she constantly found herself looking over her shoulder to make sure that nobody was watching her.

To make sure that nobody was there.

Scully eyed up the shampoo bottle sitting on the top of her trash. It was a big bottle and she _knew_ she had only bought it a couple of weeks ago. She couldn't have used it up already.

She wasn't entirely sure whether she really was going crazy or whether someone was messing with her.

Not only did she constantly feel like someone was watching her but she was convinced that she could hear footsteps behind her as she walked down the street.

She was always too scared to turn around and check to see if anyone really was following her. She always just kept her head forward and made sure to always stay in well-lit areas where she knew there would be plenty of people around.

The other week she had been convinced that someone was following her as she walked around the grocery store.

She had kept her head down and refused to turn around just like she normally did when she was sure she was being followed.

Perhaps she had been wrong but the sound of the footsteps on the floor which had never been far behind her had given her goosebumps and sent a chill down her spine.

She had been more focused on getting her shopping done and getting home before it got dark that day and she had been conscious of the fact it wouldn't have been long until the sun set.

Scully refused to be outside in the dark now. She hadn't been outside after sunset since that night.

Scully was also sure that things kept moving around in her apartment and things kept going missing.

Perhaps she really was losing it but the fact remained that her rapists hadn't been caught. They were still out there.

Scully swallowed and glanced around her bathroom nervously.

Even now she was convinced someone was watching her. She could feel their eyes on her.

Scully shook her head. She needed to get a grip.

Scully turned and began to study herself in the bathroom mirror.

Apart from the fact she looked paler and her face was slightly more drawn in, there was nothing there to remind her of the assault three months prior.

Her bruises had healed. She didn't physically hurt anywhere any more.

She wasn't even sure she even hurt at all anymore or even if she ever had been in pain.

She stepped closer to the mirror, carefully studying her clear blue eyes.

Sometimes Scully wondered whether she really had been raped.

She wasn't pregnant. She had been tested for STD's however they had all come back clear. She hadn't needed any stitches or surgery.

How was it possible that someone could be assaulted by four men and not have something, anything, to show for it. To prove that it happened and that she hadn't just imagined the whole thing.

There was DNA from four distinct individuals found on her and the evidence clearly pointed to not one of them wearing a condom.

So how could there be nothing physically wrong with her? How could everything be okay?

It didn't make sense.

She could still clearly remember the day she received the phone call to tell her that there was nothing wrong with her. She wasn't pregnant and she hadn't caught anything.

She had broken down in Mulder's arms and cried with relief. That day it suddenly didn't matter that she had been brutally attacked and left for dead. It didn't matter that she had been raped…hurt…assaulted.

What mattered was everything could be okay and she felt that day that everything was going to be fine.

There had been another drug mixed in with the alcohol that had been found in the blood test.

They were unsure what it was however they had promised that they were going to conduct more tests to find out. All they knew was that it looked like a sedative of some kind.

Scully continued to study her eyes in the mirror.

They looked different somehow but she wasn't sure what it was.

It was her first day back at work since she was assaulted and she hoped that she could manage it.

Mulder was still worried about her. She could see it every time he spoke to her. He didn't tell her but he didn't have to. She could always see it in his eyes and the way he looked at her.

It had been Scully's decision to go back to work. Nobody had forced her or pressurized her.

She had even spoken to Skinner in person and he had reassured her that there was no rush. She could take all the time she needed to even if that meant taking all the time in the world.

Skinner still didn't have the full details about what had happened. All that he had been told was that she had been assaulted and needed some time to recover and get her head together.

The only person at work who knew about it was Mulder. Scully intended to keep it that way.

She hadn't even told her mother. Scully knew that probably wasn't the best idea but she had no idea how she would even begin that conversation or how she would even manage to get the words out.

Nobody else needed to know.

Scully tore her eyes away from the mirror.

Her pants were falling down.

She knew that she had lost weight over the past three months and she knew she hadn't been eating properly.

As a doctor she knew that was bad and she needed to start taking better care of herself but she wasn't doing it on purpose. She just genuinely forgot to eat sometimes or sometimes she even felt too sick to eat.

Scully sighed as she tightened the belt around her pants.

She needed to start moving. She didn't want to be late on her first day back at work.

* * *

Mulder nervously clicked the pen between his fingers as he carefully studied Skinner's expression.

Mulder knew that Scully had spoken to him and he knew it was her decision to come back to work. If Mulder had his way then Scully wouldn't be returning to work yet and she would be taking at least another month off.

Mulder knew that wasn't his call to make and he certainly didn't want to push Scully into making any decisions.

Skinner sighed heavily and placed the papers down on his desk, rubbing his eyes.

Skinner looked exhausted himself. Mulder made note of the dark circles under his eyes. He wondered whether Skinner had been sleeping at all.

"You know, Mulder," Skinner began slowly and Mulder could immediately sense the frustration in his voice, "this would be so much easier for me if someone actually told me exactly what happened to Agent Scully that night."

Mulder hesitated. He knew Scully didn't want anyone else to know. Besides it wasn't his place to tell him. That was Scully's decision to make.

"I'm sorry," Mulder began, shaking his head, "I don't think I'm the person to tell you that. It needs to be Scully. This, um, assault, it happened to her so she needs to be the one to tell you."

Mulder was pleased with that response. At least if he worded it to make it sound like she might one day change her mind and tell him then Skinner would hopefully drop the subject.

"How is she doing, Mulder?"

The question caught Mulder off guard.

Skinner had spoken to Scully himself so he surely knew how she was doing and he had been reassured by her that she was fine. That much Mulder knew.

"I mean, how is she _really_ doing, Mulder?"

Suddenly it all made sense.

Skinner knew she wasn't okay. He knew that just as much as Mulder did.

"She's…different," Mulder began, trying to find the words to describe how his partner had changed over the past three months, "it's almost like she doesn't want to face up to what happened. It's almost like…sometimes she thinks it hasn't happened and like she thinks if she tries hard enough it will all go away."

"In what way does she not want to face up to it?"

Mulder hesitated again. He needed to be careful how to word this.

"She keeps saying that she was hurt but it doesn't feel like she was. She seems to think that because her bruises aren't there any more then in her mind it doesn't seem real therefore it isn't real. The other day she asked me if it really happened and when I told her it had she refused to believe me and kept showing me her arms and telling me there were no bruises so it couldn't have done."

"Has she had any therapy at all?"

Mulder had to hold back a laugh. Any mention of therapy either by himself or her doctor had been met with either denial anything had happened so why would she need therapy or she would snap that she was fine and could manage on her own.

Mulder shook his head.

"She says she's not ready for that yet. I think it's best to let her decide when and if she needs any therapy."

Skinner nodded and began filling in the papers in front of him.

As he did this, Mulder watched him curiously.

Scully's FBI identification which she had left in the bar had been mailed back to the FBI.

Skinner had sent it back to Scully but he had been bemused and if Mulder was honest with himself then he had been bemused too.

Why would someone send her identification back? He had tried to reason with himself and tell himself that perhaps the four men in the bar hadn't took her purse and someone else had found it instead.

That was the only thing that made sense to Mulder. He couldn't see the men who assaulted her sending it back just like that.

Mulder had told Skinner that she must have dropped it at some point during the attack.

Scully's rape had been featured in the news. It had even made the front page on two consecutive days.

Scully's identity hadn't been revealed but Mulder wondered whether Skinner had seen the news and whether he had managed to put two and two together.

Mulder hadn't even taken into consideration the fact that Scully's attack would be in the news when he informed him she had been assaulted.

It seemed doubtful to Mulder that Skinner wouldn't put two and two together and somehow come to the conclusion that Scully was the woman who had been gang raped outside a bar.

Mulder continued to watch, trying to find some trace in his expression that he knew what had really happened.

Mulder watched as Skinner finished writing and put his pen down. If he did have any idea that the woman who had been gang raped outside a bar was in fact Scully then he wasn't going to let on and he wasn't going to push the matter any further.

Mulder was grateful for that and he knew Scully would be too.

"I think that's it for now," Skinner sighed as he checked his watch, "you'd better head down. Scully is probably already down there waiting for you."

Mulder still wasn't sure what the right thing to do was.

The thoughts buzzed inside his head as he grudgingly made his way down to his basement office.

Part of him wanted to turn back and head back up to Skinner's office and tell him exactly what had happened to Scully.

He wanted to shake him and ask him why he wasn't saying anything when he must have seen the news and he must know it was Scully.

Mulder knew he could never do that. This was Scully's secret.

Just like Skinner had predicted, Scully was already in the office and was sat looking over a case file and taking sips from the coffee mug beside her.

"I thought you said you'd be here early," Scully said, her eyes not moving away from the case file in front of her, "when I saw you weren't here I thought you might have decided to go on the sick."

Mulder couldn't tell whether she was joking.

He was struck by how quiet and void of any emotion her voice was. This wasn't the Scully he knew. That Scully had gotten lost three months ago outside a bar.

"Imagine that," Scully sighed as she took off her glasses and looked up at him, "you going on the sick on my first day back at work. Now that would look suspicious. It might even look like you were avoiding me."

Scully's eyes were blank.

Her whole expression was blank.

Mulder had no clue where she was going with this so he instinctively reached out and pulled the file Scully was reading towards him and sat down, hoping to change the subject.

"This just arrived this morning?" Mulder asked as he scanned the document.

Scully didn't answer but Mulder could feel her eyes burning into him.

"Scully?" Mulder asked tenderly, glancing up at her.

"Mulder."

She wasn't smiling and now Mulder could tell she wasn't joking.

Her blue eyes burned into him like lasers.

Mulder could see her eyes had lost their spark. They were dull and expressionless and continued to burn into him.

This wasn't Scully.

She had been off with him for a while now. She often seemed cold and distant. She would often only tell him the bare minimum and refused to talk to him about how she was feeling or what was going through her mind.

Mulder wanted to respect that and let her come to him in her own time but she was starting to scare him now.

He watched as she picked up her coffee mug and took a drink from it.

Her eyes never left him the entire time.

Those blank emotionless blue eyes just looking at him.

Her movements looked robotic. It looked like she was just going through the motions without thinking or feeling anything.

Mulder carefully studied her face.

He knew the bruises were long gone. She had healed physically but he knew she hadn't healed emotionally.

Mulder's heart was breaking. He wanted her to open up and talk to him properly.

"Scully," he began, "you know that I'm here if you need me, don't you?"

Just like before there was no answer.

Mulder took a deep breath and continued.

"If you're not ready to come back to work yet then I understand and I know Skinner will understand too. If you need some more time off…" his voice trailed off as Scully narrowed her eyes dangerously at him.

"Mulder," she began sternly, "I don't want to talk about this. I'm fine."

* * *

Scully wasn't fine.

She was going crazy.

She was standing in her apartment and gripping her gun tightly in her hand.

Someone had been in her apartment whilst she was at work. She had arrived home to find her door unlocked and she knew she had locked it before she left.

Scully always locked her door every time she left her apartment. There was no way she would forget to lock it no matter how much of a rush she had been in.

Somebody had been here whilst she was away.

Her hands trembled as she put her gun down.

Something told her that whoever had been here had gone now so she could at least relax for now.

She swallowed and sat down on her couch, breathing heavily and glancing around her apartment.

Everything seemed normal. Nothing was out of place.

Scully glanced at her phone. She wanted to pick it up and call Mulder so badly but she didn't know what to say. No matter what she said or how she worded it she would just end up sounding crazy so she quickly dismissed the idea.

She had left her purse in the bar that night. Her FBI identification had been sent back to her but the keys to her apartment hadn't been.

She had changed the locks on her door but maybe somehow someone had managed to get hold of a copy to the new locks…

Scully's eyes began frantically wandering around her apartment again.

It wasn't until her eyes fell on her kitchen table again that she suddenly realized that there was something wrong and there was something out of place.

There was a newspaper on the kitchen table.

Scully swallowed nervously as she pushed herself up and began to walk towards it.

She knew that hadn't been there when she left the house and someone else must have put it there. Scully had stopped reading newspapers ever since she was raped because she didn't want to see what had happened to her screaming at her in black and white.

Scully picked up the newspaper with trembling hands. It had last month's date stamped across the top.

Scully noticed immediately that someone had folded the corner of a page down about three pages in.

Her hands began to tremble harder as she slowly opened the newspaper up to the page which had been dog eared.

Her mouth fell open and her breath caught in her throat as the headline screamed out at her.

STILL NO ARRESTS IN BAR GANG RAPE

Underneath the headline written with a red marker pen someone had scrawled the words

YOU LOVED IT REALLY


	8. Familiar Faces

**Wow it's, ahem, being a while, hasn't it? I'm not sure what happened there. I do however know that this won't happen again (promise!) and the next chapter will be up some time next month after my exams are done.**

 **In the meantime however, here is chapter eight.**

* * *

When you work with someone for a long time it's only natural to begin noticing certain things about that person.

You get to know them and you begin to understand what makes that person tick.

You begin to realize what their quirks are and over time you begin to realize when something is wrong.

When something isn't right and something is bothering them.

You begin to realize when they're scared…when they're terrified and completely lost.

Mulder knew Scully well and he knew that there was something very wrong right now.

He swore under his breath as the lights changed from green to red as he approached them.

He didn't have time for this.

Every damn light he had come to had been on red. Why was it that every time he needed to be somewhere right now and he just didn't have the time to mess around every damn traffic light he hit would without fail be on red?

Mulder drummed his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently as he waited for the lights to change back to green.

Something was very wrong.

Mulder knew there was something wrong from the moment he picked up his phone and heard Scully's soft trembling voice.

He just knew it…she was scared.

She needed him.

Scully didn't just sound scared. She sounded traumatized. Lost. Defeated.

She had begged him to come over.

Mulder had wanted to scream. He needed to know what was wrong.

Horrible images kept creeping up on him, making their way into his head like some kind of nightmare…some kind of toxic chemical that's sole purpose was to take over his mind.

He kept trying to shake those images away but they kept quickly returning with a vengeance.

What could have happened? What could be wrong? Had someone hurt her again…had _they_ hurt her again?

Those bastards! If they had hurt her again then he wasn't going to let it go this time. This time he really would hunt them down and put a bullet through all of their skulls.

He had even made a point of making sure there was always at least four rounds in his gun. Just in case.

He was going over the speed limit but Mulder didn't care. He would even pity any cop who wanted to try and pull him over right now.

 _Scully_ …

Her name creeped into his head as her apartment came into his line of vision.

 _Nearly there Scully. Just hold on._

Mulder could see all the lights in her apartment were on and as he got closer he could just about make out a silhouette frantically pacing backwards and forwards through the closed curtains.

Mulder took no time in pulling up outside the apartment building and practically sprinting into Scully's apartment.

Scully had stopped pacing by the time he arrived in her apartment. Instead she was sat on her couch with her arms folded across her chest and she was shaking.

"Scully?" Mulder said softly, being careful not to startle her.

Scully didn't reply at first. She took a few slow laboured breaths before turning slowly to face her partner.

"Please don't hurt me", she whispered.

"Scully, I'm not going to hurt you. It's me. It's Mulder."

"Mulder?" Scully blinked slowly and shook her head as if she was trying to process who he was.

Suddenly without warning Scully leapt up from the couch and ran into Mulder's arms; wrapping her own arms around him, burying her head into his arm and she began to sob.

"Hush, it's okay, I'm here", Mulder whispered, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm so sorry Mulder," she sniffed, gazing up at him with tear filled blue eyes, "I mean I didn't realize…I mean I didn't know…oh God Mulder, I'm so sorry."

Mulder gently stroked her hair as she continued to sob.

"Scully?" Mulder whispered softly.

Scully's eyes widened and she pulled away from him, still sniffling.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed, "I just didn't know what to do. I mean, I don't know what to do, oh God, I don't know."

Mulder gently placed his hand on Scully's lower back and he guided her towards the couch and sat her back down.

Scully was still trembling and her cheeks had turned crimson. It struck Mulder how her cheeks were almost as red as her hair and despite everything he had to refrain from smiling. He knew that if the situation was different then this would probably have been funny.

Mulder knew Scully was embarrassed. He could tell she was scared but he could also tell that she was secretly cringing about being so upset right now and for not being able to deal with this on her own.

Mulder knelt down in front of her and gently took her trembling hands in his.

He still felt awkward about touching her and he kept half expecting her to slap him away or start freaking out but she didn't.

"Do you want to tell me what this is about?" he asked, giving her hands a gentle reassuring squeeze.

Scully sniffed again but didn't answer. Instead she turned her head and indicated towards a folded up newspaper beside her on the couch which Mulder hadn't noticed before.

Feeling confused Mulder picked up the newspaper and unfolded it. It was an old newspaper, from the previous month.

"Somebody has been in my apartment, Mulder," Scully said, her voice shaking, "they have been here before. I know they have. Look what they did Mulder, look what they did!"

Scully began to cry again.

"What did they do, Scully?" Mulder asked gently but still feeling very confused.

"In the newspaper," Scully managed to choke out, "look in the newspaper! They said I wanted this!"

It was then that Mulder noticed that one of the pages in the newspaper had been dog-eared. He nervously opened the page up to where it had been folded down in the corner and his face all the color immediately drained from his face.

He could see the headline screaming out at him in black and white; STILL NO ARRESTS IN BAR GANG RAPE.

Mulder began shaking with anger as he stared at the words which had been scrawled underneath in red marker pen; YOU LOVED IT REALLY.

Mulder took a slow deep breath as he set the newspaper aside.

"Scully, do you know who did this?"

Mulder's voice was slow and steady but it was obvious that he was restraining himself from lashing out at something.

"I-I don't know," Scully began, "I just found it on my table but I know someone has been in my apartment and they've been in more than once. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you. I didn't want to burden you with anything. I didn't want you to think that I couldn't deal with this on my own and that I need to be protected all the time."

Mulder felt a sharp pain in his chest. Scully was hurting and scared but she had been too embarrassed to ask him for help and now someone was still trying to get to her.

"I don't want to be weak," Scully whispered.

Those words hurt Mulder. Scully was so far from being weak that it was unreal. She was the strongest woman he had ever met.

"Asking for help doesn't make you weak," he began, "you can't do everything on your own."

Scully scoffed but she almost managed a smile. She knew he was right but she didn't want to admit it.

"You're scared. You know that. I know that but it's okay to be scared. You aren't just going to get over this overnight. What you've been through is just inconceivable. You need time."

Scully nodded her head, finally willing to agree with him.

All kinds of thoughts were buzzing through Mulder's head again.

He needed to get her out of this apartment. He needed to call to police to tell them some bastard was trying to hurt her or at the very least, scare her.

He needed to hunt down those damn bastards himself because clearly the police were doing shoddy work and hadn't managed to catch them themselves.

"Okay Scully, we need to get you out of this apartment right now. You're staying with me until we get this sorted and we need to phone the police right now."

Scully took a deep breath and opened her mouth and for a second he thought she was going to argue with him but to his relief she nodded her head, agreeing with him yet again.

"I'll um, get some stuff first," Scully began, pushing herself up from the couch and, to Mulder's surprise, managed to smile at him nervously, "thank you Mulder."

The words had barely left her mouth before her smile faltered and she quickly whipped her head to face her kitchen, her eyes wide.

"What is it?" Mulder asked, confused.

Scully shook her head and slowly turned back to him, her eyes still wide and her breathing uneasy.

"Nothing," she breathed out nervously, "I, um, just thought I heard something, um someone. I don't know."

Mulder raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

He made sure to check out Scully's apartment whilst she packed some things to bring with her but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Everything seemed to be as it should be and if there had been someone in her apartment earlier, they were definitely long gone now.

Brand new thoughts began to buzz around Mulder's head.

New theories began to twist and take shape in his thoughts but he didn't voice them.

He simply watched his partner with concern as she gathered her things together.

* * *

The man with the face like a rat eyed up the young woman who was dancing around the bar hungrily.

The girl was completely wasted, that much he knew.

He took another swig from his drink as he continued to eye her up.

The chicks name was Trixie, her skirt was so short that he kept getting eyefuls of her ass and from what he could tell, she was just yet another blonde bimbo.

The man smirked as the young woman twirled and winked at him as she spun back round to face him.

"You shouldn't be here."

"Get lost," the man with the rat face retorted, not even looking up from his drink.

He didn't even need to look up. He knew exactly who it was who had rudely interrupted his fantasies and hopefully with a bit of luck he would clear off so he could have Trixie all to himself.

"You shouldn't be here," the voice hissed in his ear again and to the rat faced man's annoyance, the owner of the voice sat himself down on a stool next to him.

"Get lost Hunter. I mean it."

The man with the dirty blond hair who had sat himself down beside him ignored him again and instead leaned in close to him, still hissing in his ear.

"You idiot. What if the cops show up? You'll be done for, Rat."

Rat sighed and reluctantly took his eyes off Trixie and turned his attention to Hunter.

"You're here," Rat smirked, "I could just as easily say the same thing to you."

Hunter's cheeks went red. He knew Rat had a point but he didn't want to get into that. What he was doing here was really none of his concern.

"Does Leo know you're here?" Hunter hissed, attempting to take the attention away from himself.

"Does Leo know _you're_ here, Hunter?" Rat replied innocently.

Rat didn't think it was possible for Hunter's cheeks to flush even more than they already had but apparently it was.

Rat chuckled to himself as he watched the blond haired man become even more angry.

Rat took another swig from his drink and turned his attention back to the bimbo who was twirling around the bar like a Barbie doll.

A dumb slutty Barbie doll, Rat thought as he smirked to himself.

Such easy prey.

All chicks were easy prey really however some were easier than others.

Rat wished Hunter would get lost. He always had to share but he wanted this one all to himself.

"How many times have you been back here since the cops came after us?" Hunter asked.

Rat could tell he was irritated, scared even, which amused him.

"None of your business," he said simply.

Hunter opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but he quickly changed his mind and closed it again. He followed Rat's gaze and he found his own eyes begin to wander over the blondie with the too short skirt.

"Her name is Trixie," Rat began as he noticed where his friends' eyes had wandered, "do you know how old she is?"

"Um, what?"

"Have a guess how old she is, go on," the man with the rat face teased.

Rat didn't want to share his find with Hunter but the way things were going it looked like he was going to have to.

This was just great.

Hunter's eyes were all over Trixie now. Rat could almost see the cogs turning in his head as he tried to work out her age.

"She looks young," the man with the dirty blond hair finally said, "I would say about eighteen."

"Nope, try again," Rat laughed.

He could see that Hunter was getting even more impatient and Rat had to suppress the urge to burst out laughing.

He loved winding that man up.

Hunter's eyes suddenly grew wide as if he had just figured something out.

"Rat," he began, inhaling deeply, "please don't tell me you've done what I think you've done."

"I couldn't help myself," he shrugged, "one minute we were just sat talking to each other right here then the next thing I know my hand was somehow over her drink."

He laughed as he saw Hunter's eyes continue to widen.

"She never noticed," Rat continued, "women are all so stupid that they just never do, do they? She'll be out soon. Just watch."

Hunter licked his lips hungrily as he watched Trixie stumble across the bar, drunkenly heading towards them.

He knew he should tell. It was the right thing to do and besides they were risking so much doing this again so soon after little red had reported them to the cops.

He really should tell Leo but the truth was, he wanted some too.

Hunter quickly made his decision and he grabbed Rat by his collar and twisted him around so he had no choice but to look at him.

"Listen," he began, his voice barely above a whisper, "I'll make you a deal. If you let me have some then I won't tell Leo. I won't tell anyone. We'll just do this and forget this ever happened."

Rat's eyes narrowed dangerously. Now he was the one who was angry but he somehow managed to keep control.

"And if I don't let you?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what will happen if you don't let me, Rat."

Trixie had managed to stumble her way over to them, a dumb drunken smile on her face. She collapsed on a bar stool next to Rat.

"Trixie," Rat began, smirking at Hunter on his other side, "my friend Hunter here thought you were only eighteen."

"Eighteen?" Trixie gasped before bursting into a fit of irritating high pitched giggles.

"That's right, that's what he thought. Tell him how old you really are."

Trixie cast her eyes on the blond haired man. She was still giggling and she still had that stupid smile on her face.

It was taking all of Hunter's strength to not slap her.

"I'm twenty-five, silly!"

Hunter turned to Rat, his eyebrow raised.

"No way."

"Apparently she is," Rat shrugged.

Trixie's eyes were now starting to close and she leaned into Rat, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You sure about that?" the blond haired man asked as he watched Trixie yawn drunkenly and scratch her nose.

Rat shrugged again and knocked back the rest of his drink.

"So do you want to do this or not?" he asked, secretly hoping that Hunter would just get lost but to his dismay, he nodded his head.

Rat gently stroked Trixie's long blonde hair and nodded the signal at Hunter.

"Right then Trixie, you're very drunk. I think it's time we got you home." Rat said loudly.

Both men stood up and began to help Trixie off the bar stool.

"How much has she had tonight?" Hunter asked loudly as they began walking the stumbling blonde out of the bar.

"A lot," Rat replied, wincing, "I have never seen her this wasted before."

Both men had their arms wrapped around Trixie's shoulders as they guided the semi-conscious woman out of the bar.

Both men smirked at each other as they led her outside.

Neither of them noticed the suspicious looking man watching them from the corner of the room.

* * *

Scully lay back on the couch, rubbing a hand over her stomach.

She hadn't even realized how hungry she had been but now after making her way through several slices of pizza, she was stuffed.

Scully hadn't been eating properly recently. She was well aware of that fact and she was also well aware of the fact that it wasn't good for her. She should know that better than anyone.

She picked up the diet soda from the coffee table and began to drink.

Apparently she hadn't been drinking properly either as the realization of how thirsty she was hit her.

Scully could feel Mulder's eyes on her and she just knew there was concern etched on his face.

He kept glancing at her nervously every so often but Scully would pretend not to notice it.

She knew he wanted to say something; that there was something on his mind that he was debating internally and he was struggling to decide if he should tell her.

Part of Scully wanted him to just come out with what he was thinking whilst the other half was secretly relieved he was keeping his thoughts to himself. She didn't want to deal with his crap right now.

"Feeling any better, Scully?"

Scully nodded her head and for the first time in a long time she was being honest with him.

She couldn't tell if it was the fact she was out of her apartment and somewhere which felt safe or the fact that she had finally ate something half decent in a long time or a combination of both but she knew she felt calmer now.

"You haven't been eating properly recently, have you Scully?" Mulder asked gently, as if reading her mind.

Scully bit her lip, slightly embarrassed. She was a doctor. She should know that she needed to take care of herself, especially right now.

Mulder gently took her wrist in his hand and wrapped his fingers around it.

"You've lost quite a bit of weight recently," he said softly.

He wasn't asking a question this time.

"Maybe a bit," Scully admitted, feeling herself go red, "I just haven't been feeling well recently. I just keep feeling so anxious and sick."

"You need to start taking care of yourself, Scully. Please promise me you will."

"Okay. I mean, um, I'll try."

Mulder inhaled deeply as if he wanted to say something else but thought better of it. Instead he reached over and took her hand in his.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

Scully rested her head on Mulder's shoulder, her breathing slow and steady.

"I'm not doing this on purpose, Mulder."

Her voice startled Mulder. He thought she had fallen asleep.

Scully lifted her head off his shoulder and turned to face him.

"What I mean is that I'm not hurting myself on purpose. I'm not trying to hurt you either. I just…"

She took a deep breath as though she was struggling to find the right words to say.

"I mean, I just…I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't know what I'm supposed to be feeling. Someone is messing with me. I know they are. I'm not imagining this."

This was the first time in the three months since she was assaulted that she was finally opening up to him.

She had been blocking him out and refusing to let him in but now Mulder could see something in his partner's face. It was right there in her eyes. She wanted to let him in.

Mulder smiled to himself and felt a sudden wave of relief wash over him. They were finally making some progress.

Mulder gave Scully's hand a reassuring squeeze, encouraging her to continue.

He didn't want to say anything right now. This was her time to talk.

"How are you supposed to feel after something like this? I don't feel human anymore," Scully admitted, her voice trembling, "I feel like a robot. Sometimes I feel like I have no clue what human emotions even are anymore."

"There is no right way," Mulder began slowly, "however you deal with this and what you think is the best way to deal with this is the right way for you."

"But why do they still want to hurt me? They have been in my apartment. They're still there. I can feel them there constantly. They won't go away. They just won't leave me alone."

To her embarrassment, she began to cry again.

She really was pathetic. All she ever did these days was either cry or not feel anything at all.

Mulder wrapped his arm around her, bringing her close.

"It's okay," he said softly, planting a kiss on her head, "you'll get through this."

"They used my shampoo," she sniffed, "why would they do that?"

There was silence again for another few minutes.

Scully wanted to kick herself. If she hadn't sounded completely crazy before then she definitely would now.

"Have you been to see a doctor, Scully?"

The words had barely left Mulder's mouth before Scully abruptly shrugged his arm off her and sat up, her eyes wide.

"What are you trying to say, Mulder?"

"Scully, I didn't mean it like that!"

"No, Mulder, what are you trying to say? You think I'm crazy, don't you? You think I'm just imagining this whole thing? Or do you think I'm just making it up for attention? You think I'm a liar, don't you?"

"You know fine well that's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean, Mulder? What are you trying to tell me here?"

"Scully, please," Mulder begged, "let's not talk about this. I don't want to upset you. Why don't we talk about this later?"

There was silence again for a few minutes.

Scully took another sip from her diet soda and studied her partner intently.

She knew that he was curiously studying her too. She could see his eyes making their way over her, his eyebrows furrowed.

Scully wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what Mulder was implying and it hurt. He was the one person she needed to believe her but if he didn't believe her then who would?

She knew she wasn't crazy yet here her partner was trying to tell her that she was and trying to tell her that she needed help.

Scully was a doctor so she would know if she needed to see one.

Scully bit her bottom lip nervously. Then again, maybe she was kidding herself. She may be a medical doctor but Mulder was the psychologist therefore wasn't he in a much better position to judge whether she was mentally well?

That still didn't explain certain things. For starters, Scully had no idea where that newspaper in her apartment had come from and she had no idea who wrote those horrible words with the marker pen.

She didn't know how she was so sure but she just knew that there were no blanks in her memory and she wasn't losing it. She was being played.

Scully sighed and reached over for her purse and pulled out the sleeping pills which she had taken religiously over the last three months.

It was getting late and they had to be up early in the morning.

Scully washed down the sleeping pill with a gulp of her soda.

The sleeping pills were just another reminder of her failure.

Sure they stopped the nightmares from coming and allowed her to have an uneventful slumber but how long could she continue this? Was she just going to have to rely on medication to get through the rest of her life?

She hated this, she really did.

She turned to Mulder and saw that he was watching her with a sad closed lip smile on his face.

* * *

Scully impatiently jingled the keys in her pocket.

She had been waiting in line for at least ten minutes now but there was still no sign of the man in front of her taking his order over to the table and shutting up.

Scully's eyes wandered around the half empty coffee shop, eventually falling on the table where two girls who were, presumably, the daughters of Mr Flirt in front of her right now.

The younger of the two girls, who Scully guessed was around eight or so, was eating a chocolate covered marshmallow on a stick and occasionally picking chunks of chocolate off it and tossing them at the older girl who would simply look up from her magazine and tell her to knock it off.

Scully studied the older girl. She looked around fourteen and from the way she was flicking through the magazine in front of her, she wasn't in the best of moods.

"Is she still going on about that?"

Scully's attention immediately snapped away from the girls and returned to Mr Flirt in front of her who was now leaning over the counter as he chatted to the girl behind the cash register.

"Well, you'd think she would be bored of it by now, but no, she just won't shut up about it," the man sighed.

There was something familiar about his voice but Scully wasn't sure what it was and she decided that she didn't actually care.

Scully glanced out the window. There was still no sign of Mulder despite him telling her he wouldn't be long.

This had all been Mulder's idea. He said he wanted to treat her to some coffee and breakfast before work but the way things were going, it looked like she would be the one treating him.

How long does it take to go to the bank? More to the point, how long does it take to serve someone some coffee?

The woman standing behind Scully sighed, checked her watch and turned around and left the coffee shop.

Scully didn't blame her.

"Ow! Daddy, she hit me!"

"She's lying! I didn't even touch her!"

The younger girl proceeded to burst into high pitched giggles and began slamming her hands on the pages of the older girls' magazine.

"Dad, will you tell her to knock it off?"

"Both of you knock it off!"

Scully shivered. There was something eerily familiar about that angry tone.

"Guess what, daddy? Emily has a boyfriend and she kisses him!"

Scully watched as the older girl's cheeks turned beetroot red and almost immediately she felt the posture of the man in front of her change.

She could tell that the dark haired man in front of her was seething but he was doing his best to control his anger.

What was that? Overprotective daddy mode?

"She better not have," Scully heard the man mutter under his breath, "otherwise I'll find out who he is and break both his legs."

Scully winced. Something was really wrong here.

"I have no idea how you do it," the girl behind the cash register sighed, "dealing with those two handfuls and then going home and having to deal with that bitch of an ex of yours."

Mr Flirt shrugged and casually leaned back over the counter.

"Sorry for swearing," the girl giggled, putting her hand over her mouth in mock horror, "but your ex really does sound like hard work. Come on, Leo, who does she think she is?"

Scully felt like her stomach was plunging down an elevator shaft without her.

Everything suddenly seemed to be happening in slow motion.

She swallowed and slowly lifted her eyes up to the tall dark haired man in front of her.

 _It couldn't be…_

The man smiled and slowly turned his own eyes away from the girl behind the cash register.

 _Oh God, oh God…_

Scully could no longer hear anything. Everything sounded muffled and far away.

She could hear the man saying something but she couldn't hear what he was saying.

It felt like her head was being held under water and she couldn't get herself out.

It happened very slowly but Scully still didn't have time to register what was happening.

The man slowly turned his head in her direction and his eyes fell on her. His smile widened.

 _Oh God, oh God…_

He started talking to her and Scully knew right away that he knew exactly who she was. She needed to get out of here.

Without even thinking about what she was doing, she turned around and legged it out of the coffee shop and on to the busy DC street.

 _Oh God, oh God…_

Scully bent over. She was going to be sick.

She knew there were people around her. She knew the street was busy. She could see them there and more importantly; she could feel them there but she couldn't actually hear them. It was like someone had pressed the mute button.

Scully gagged and she could feel something in the back of her throat but no vomit came up.

She could feel someone approaching her from behind and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Someone was touching her, pulling her in close and pressing their lips against her ear.

Almost as suddenly as the mute button had been pressed, someone flicked it back on again as the noise of the busy street reconnected to her brain.

She could feel someone behind her, hear them breathing in her ear.

She couldn't take this anymore.

"You told the cops," a voice whispered in her ear, "that was a very big mistake. You should not have done that, Agent Scully."

That was the last thing Scully heard before the world disappeared completely and she fainted.


End file.
